The Shinigami's Angel
by Loverly Light
Summary: Between ZX and ZXA. A teen-aged orphan decides he is cursed after all those close to him die. Gaining a new power, he starts running wild. Will Aile be able to stop him... even after finding his past is so much like her own? ZXA spoilers
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer and warning: I don't own the rights to ZX, or anything Megaman. This is kinda violent and sad, but it's the worst in this chapter I believe. Oh yes, these are all the pairings I'm planning on having: AileXGiro, DuoXHilde, then AileXDuo. It's not really a crossover, but three characters from Gundam Wing make an appearance, even though two of them die in the first chapter. I believe that's all, so I hope you enjoy!

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter One

It wasn't his real name, Shinigami. Neither was Duo Maxwell. He didn't know his real name. It _could _be his real name, he supposed. He never knew his parents. Or, he did at one point. They died in a Maverick raid when he was far too little to remember them. He didn't even know the name he had been given. The first thing he had remembered was being found by Solo. Solo was a few years older then him, and had taken him into his band of children, all of who's parents had been killed as well.

He lived with them for a few years, until he was about six, and he and Solo grew very close. Solo became like an older brother to the nameless boy.

Then came the Mavericks, unexpectedly attacking this small group of children. All died that day; all but the nameless boy. His "brother" died in his arms. From that day, he decided, he would not be nameless: He would be Duo, so Solo would live on also.

He was found by a couple a few months later, who then took him in; the Maxwell's. Maxwell was a pastor in a church, and Helen was his wife. Duo was very happy there, and finally had someone to go to, a "mother" and a "father", even though he wasn't technically their son they thought of him as such.

Then, after a few years, it happened again.

Mavericks.

Duo had been out playing by a river about half a mile away when he heard the sound of gunfire coming from the church. He immediately got up and ran over there, but by the time he got there, the Mavericks had gone. They had killed everyone except him, one more time.

Duo then decided that he was cursed, that everyone who got close to him would be killed. He took the last name Maxwell in honor of them, and left. He promised himself that he would never let that happen again, and started wandering around the Inner Peace, taking any jobs anyone had for him, never staying in one place for more then a few months.

Then, when he was fifteen years old he joined a small group trying to colonize the area out of Inner Peace. There he met a pair of twins his age: Heero and Hilde. Their mother had died shortly after giving birth to them, and they previously had met very few children their own age. Heero was cold, efficient, and caring underneath a mask of stone. In short: Duo's opposite. Duo tried reaching out to the boy, soon seeing Heero as his best friend, and (eventually) Heero grew to feel the same.

And then there was Hilde.

Oh, how he loved her. She was bright, kind, determined, innocent, always ready to pull Duo out of his shell and make him truly smile. She told him once that she loved him, and he couldn't honestly disagree. She made him feel like all was right in the world, there were no Mavericks, no death... no Shinigami. With a friend who stood by his side and a wonderful girl who loved him back, Duo finally felt that maybe he wasn't cursed after all.

Until one day, two years after they met...

* * *

"_Duo!" Said boy ran up to Heero, who was firing his gun, ducking behind a building, reloading, and starting again faster then Duo could completely follow. All of a sudden, the Mavericks had attacked, just like that. Everyone over thirteen was given a gun, while the others took shelter in a building._

"_I want you to take the children and Hilde out of the city."_

"_What?!" Duo was stunned._

_Heero ducked back against the wall again, wiping a thin layer of sweat from his forehead._

"_There's just too many, Duo. We can't beat them. I'm counting on you to protect her, Duo." Heero stated the horrible statement in a monotone._

"_What are you saying? You'll pull out of this, you don't die that easily..."_

"_Duo. We can't win here." The seventeen-year-old looked his one friend in the eye. "We've already lost many of our fighters. They outnumbered us three-to-one in the beginning, but we're taking them out too slowly. I need you to keep her safe, Duo." Heero's voice lowered and a thread of emotion colored his speech. "You two are all I have, now that dad's dead. I know I won't be able to make it out of here alive, but I'll be content knowing the two of you and the children are safe. Take them to Inner Peace, Duo, please."_

"_But..."_

_Duo was cut off from a short yell of pain from his friend. One of the Mavericks had managed to get his shoulder, close to his body._

"_Heero!"_

"_Duo..." Heero struggled to hide the pain in his voice. "Don't... worry about me... save Hilde..." now he smiled softly. "Get married and live like you told me you would..."_

"_Heero..."_

"_Go!!" Heero screamed, causing Duo to take a step back._

A... alright, Heero. _Duo turned to go to where Hilde was stationed, being careful to weave so he was behind the buildings and out of range of the Mavericks._

"_Hilde!" Duo called as soon as he reached the girl._

"_What is it, Duo?" Hilde turned, eyes and voice betraying her concern._

"_Heero wants me to take you and the children to Inner Peace... says there's no way we can win..."_

"_What?! T-that's not like Heero..."_

"_I know... that mean there really is no hope, come on Hilde, we have to go get the children."_

_Duo grabbed Hilde's arm gently, but she pulled away sharply._

"_No! I can't leave now! I have to help Onii-chan!" She rushed away, out from the protection of the buildings._

"_Hilde, don't--!" Duo's warning came too late. Hilde was shot three times in the chest, and, with a cry, fell to the ground._

"_HILDE!!" Duo cried rushing out and kneeling by the girl._

_She was dead._

_Duo bit his lip, eyes watering, and he reached down and stroked her hair softly._

This is all my fault... if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have died...

_Suddenly, Duo's head shot up. There were three shots heading straight for him. He froze, unable to move. He felt for sure now he was going to die..._

_The first shot, slightly ahead of the others, grazed his left temple, causing him to flinch instinctively and close his eyes. Which in turn caused the other two to pass by him harmlessly. Duo opened his eyes, surprised to find he was still alive. He got to his feet shakily, pulling his handgun from it's sheath by his hip. The Maverick shot at the gun, this time hitting it perfectly, causing the gun to explode and fling Duo backwards and hit his head on the building wall behind him hard._

I... I failed you... Heero, Hilde... gomen...

_Those were his last thoughts before losing consciousness._

_

* * *

A Maverick walked through the streets of the now ruined town, checking for survivors. He saw a boy dressed in black with a long braid, but assumed him to be dead from the blood pouring from his head, and didn't give him a second glance. Finished with his sweep of the city, he prepared to report to Pandora and Prometheus._

_Everything had gone as planned._

_They had wiped out all inhabitants of Colony A4._

* * *

"_Uugh..." Duo moaned as he opened his eyes to the ruins around him. He blinked then jumped up, then lost his balance and fell back on the remains of a wall. He cast a weary gaze around the empty town. But not quite empty, only empty of living people; dead ones were everywhere. Duo pushed himself away from the wall, and took a few shaky steps forwards, shocked and numb. Everything was slightly hazy- Duo wasn't sure if it was because of the blow to the head or denial of the situation. He stumbled forwards to the high building the children had been in. Once there, he turned away quickly, not wanting to look at the small bodies in front of him._

_They were dead. Everyone. The children, the people of the village, Heero, Hilde..._

_And he was alive._

_The only survivor._

_Again._

_Duo fell to his knees, not caring to support his weight anymore. Tears streamed down his face as though they'd never end, but he just kept staring blankly into the ruins before him, unseeing. His thoughts seemed to stumble over each other, but the message was all too clear._

It's your fault.

You got close to them; you loved them. You swore you wouldn't do that again.

You killed all these people.

It must be your fault; if it isn't why are you always the one alive?

You're the bringer of death.

You are Shinigami.

You don't deserve any other title: Duo Maxwell? Ha!

You stole those names, formed who you are, from the people you killed.

So why did you do it this time, _Shinigami_?

Didn't you care about them enough to stay away?

_Duo shut his eyes tightly and let out a long wail of despair. A cry that no one was left to hear._

* * *

After that he wandered, from various different parts of the Outlands, taking on various small jobs to survive, giving no one his name. He didn't want to live anymore, but he wouldn't just die of starvation. He would get killed by a Maverick.

After all, it was only fair.

Unfortunately, while the Mavericks had the uncanny habit of showing up when he was with others, he could never find any while he was alone. He continued on in this way for two years, which brings us to the start of this story...

The boy leaned against the wall of a house, half-smiling as he watch a group of three children playing in the street. They were playing some sort of game with a ball, Duo couldn't tell and it seemed the kids couldn't either, as the two boys kept arguing about the rules. All of a sudden, the girl looked up and gasped. Duo turned his head disinterestedly to the place all three children were now staring, terrified.

There was a Maverick.

Duo frowned. He heard the Mavericks had gotten in the habit of making quick hit-and-run attacks, to hopefully be gone before any Guardians showed up. Duo had unfortunately never been nearby any of these attacks. Because of the Maverick's new tactics, most townspeople had gotten in the habit of carrying handguns.

Children, of course, were not given such weapons.

Duo stepped out from the wall, and walked in between the two groups, facing the Maverick. This action seemed to knock the three children out of their shock, and they fled and hid behind a house a short ways away.

Good, they should be safe...

Duo closed his eyes and smiled slightly, as he heard the whine of a gun being charged. Finally, he'd be dead. He would never hurt anyone again...

'Hey, kid! What are you doing?!'

Duo's head shot up and his eyes snapped open at the sound of a voice. A small black and white... something with a purple jewel was hovering nearby, coming towards him quickly. Suddenly, it met with him. Duo screamed in surprise and a shock, as he felt an irrepressible urge to grab the object. He clenched it in his fist and raised it high, smiling. Suddenly a white light surrounded his arm, and soon his whole body was glowing with a pulsating light. His eyes closed and he felt his body being changed, but it didn't feel odd or bad. It felt... like he was supposed to be like this. The light left, leaving his head bowed and he was himself wearing black armor. He wore a black helmet with two fins and a purple jewel, with his normally braided medium-brown hair down and flowing around him like a cape. His head raised, and his eyes shot open. Instead of their normal purple-blue, they glowed a deep red for a second, along with a purple jewel on his helmet. He leapt forwards with a grin, and grabbed the Maverick's head, and started squeezing, delight evident in his now-red eyes. Behind the wall, the girl gasped at the violence, while the boys looked startled and slightly intrigued by this power. "Duo" let go of the Maverick, smirked dangerously as a dark purple energy formed in his right hand. Suddenly he thrust his hand forwards, letting out a shock of power that ripped through his enemy. Now the Maverick was dead, Duo started breathing heavily, and his eyes faded back to their normal color.

_What... what happened?_

Duo raised his head, surprised at the black and sizzling lump of wires that had once been a Maverick.

"Wow... that was..."

'Powerful, ne? Now, what were you doing, trying to get yourself killed?!'

"You... you're speaking to me... inside my head?"

'Huh? I... I guess I am...' The voice seemed slightly confused, then took back a hard edge. 'Now tell me: Why were you trying to commit suicide?'

"I... I... who are you?"

'Uh...' the voice seemed surprised at this. '...I'm Forte, I guess.'

"'You guess'? Where did you come from?"

'I... I don't know. I just remember... being shut down... and then... this. I can't remember anything for a long time before a few minutes ago.'

"W... what did you do to me?" Duo queried, inspecting his armored hands.

'I... don't really know. I could never do that before... but that was back when I was a robot.'

"'Robot'?" Duo asked again confused. "Do you mean Reploid?"

'You're sure curious, aren't you? I asked a question too, you know. Why do you want to die?'

Duo bit his lip and stayed silent. Forte let out a noise of frustration.

'Fine... if that's too hard, what about this: what's your name?'

The boy hesitated. He wasn't sure what he should be called anymore, after not being called by any name for so long. There was only one name he felt he deserved to be named, but he wasn't sure about telling it to this strange... Forte. However, he had this strange feeling that he could trust him, that Forte'd understand...

'Well?'

"... I'm Shinigami."

'Shinigami, eh...?' Forte seemed surprised, but not doubting. Shinigami got the feeling that Forte understood completely.

'If you team up with me, I can make you into a true God of Death to the ones who made you like this.' Forte bragged.

"... a true God of Death..." Shinigami repeated almost wistfully. Then he raised his head and smiled wanly. "I'd like that." Shin got the direct impression Forte would be smirking.

'All right then... let's go!'

Shinigami's eyes glowed once more to red, then dashed off in search of the Mavericks.

* * *

Author's note: So, what did you think? I wasn't sure whether the way Duo killed the Maverick was too violent, but that's the way I pictured it... if I should raise the rating, please tell me. I don't think the violence should be much worse then that, though. Aile will show up in the next chapter, and don't worry, Pandora and Prometheus will come in the story as well. (Well, I'd worry if they didn't show up... they're the best, aren't they?) Also, I started writing this before I played Advent, but now I have and I'm really glad since now I have some idea where I'm going with this story. And, yeah, Heero and Hilde aren't really twins, but it seemed to make sense here. Well, they aren't perfect copies anyway. Oh yes, my thinking for this pairing was actually "Oh, poor Aile, all the people close to her died... Hey! All the people close to Duo died also!" (Believe it or not, that's not my least-sane pairing and reason for pairing. That would be Dark RockXIno, and I paired them because they are both assaociated with the color purple.)

Anyway, I have several multi-chapter stories I'm planning on writing, but this is the only one that I had the entire first chapter written out. If you enjoy this one then I'll try to write more, if you don't I'll put it on hold to write a different one. (I have the first chapter of an original series (not Cartoon) story written now, and I'm in the middle of writing a much longer one-shot then I've written before, so... I have forgotten where I was going with that. Oh well, just to let you know. Most of my multi-chapter stories are for Battle Network, but I have a ZX one with no original characters (well... kinda) and a few Cartoon series. And the original series one of course.)

Okay, I just edited a few mistakes. I really though I had fixed those before, but I guess I didn't save it. Oh well, they're fixed now.


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Megaman, and as my brother pointed out, I'm borrowing Duo from a series I don't own the rights too either, Gundam Wing.

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Two

The girl was flopped back on a hammock, the picture of relaxation. The hammock was only a foot or two above the steel floor beneath, tied between a fence and a hook in the opposite wall. However, the wall and fence it was attached to was on an airship currently flying several hundred feet above the actual ground, but the girl seemed confident she wouldn't fall. She was dressed in a T-shirt, with white and different shades of blue running across in horizontal lines, and light tan pants that almost covered her blue shoes. She had grown her hair out over the past few years, so that it reached slightly past her shoulder blades. A handy ponytail-holder kept it from getting in the way, but her bangs still fell in front of her face. Her brilliant emerald green eyes were hidden from sight, as they were closed, and a small smile played on her lips and she almost laughed as she felt the wind whip around her form.

And, if you didn't know her, you would have though she was crazy.

"Come on, Model P, I can afford a little relaxation can't I?" Her voice had a teasing hint to it as she spoke to what seemed the air, as there was no one else, Humaniod or Reploid, anywhere in sight. After a few seconds of apparently listening to a response, she sighed.

"Even _you _want to take a break sometime, don't you?"

She wasn't really talking to empty space, or even through a communicator, really. For this girl's name was Aile. She had been a normal girl at one point, then, almost fifteen years ago, her mother had been killed in a Maverick raid. She had been rescued and protected by a boy four or five years older then herself. This boy called himself Giro, short for Girouette (he had considered it too girly), and ran a delivery service called "Giro Express". He gave her a job as a transporter and a home for ten years. Then, an amazing event happened. Aile was pretty shocked by the whole thing, but in the end, Giro had died, Aile saved the world, and the girl also possessed the powers of ancient heroes.

Aile hated it at times.

She had saved the world, and protected millions of lives from a madman, the same man whose servants had killed her mother. But she had been unable to protect the life of the one closest to her: her boss, best friend, and the one she had fallen in love with. Forced to lie there helpless as he sacrificed his life for hers, after being manipulated into fighting each other, Aile was completely helpless to stop his death.

Aile hated it… but she never regretted it.

He had sacrificed himself to save her, and to protect the world. He told her never to give up, because she still had people she needed to protect. She agreed, and dedicated herself to protecting everyone for his sake. Even after the world was saved from Serpent, Mavericks still ran wild. Only they really were wild this time, with no apparent purpose or leader. Still, they posed a dangerous threat, carrying out attacks on anyone they could find. Aile often was sent out to drive them back, but sometimes didn't make it. They were never able to pinpoint an origin, so they had to be content with disabling them when they attacked. However, thanks to increased security measures, and a new government called "Legion" in charge, the loss of life was fortunately kept to a minimum. People still died, which frustrated Aile, but she always tried to do the best she could.

'There's nothing wrong with taking a break, Aile.' The Biometal stated in an emotionless voice- not because of what it was, but simply because of his personality. 'But you should stay on your guard. What would happen if there was an emergency?'

"It's my day off," Aile tried to reason with the usually silent purple Biometal. "Prairie said the others could take care of anything today, and there haven't really been anything I've seen recently that they wouldn't be able to handle."

'Still, it's your duty-'

"Look, I understand, okay?" Aile laughed. "Geez, was he always like this?"

'Always,' Model L piped up. 'He was never content with taking a break, he always had to be ready for an attack.'

'Which is probably why we were able to avert disaster as soon as we did, when such circumstances occurred.'

'Well, this isn't like then, so leave Aile to her break.' A new voice interjected, sounding annoyed- and slightly bored.

"Thank you, Model H." Aile acknowledged the Biometal, then tucked her hands behind her head and closed her eyes.

A few seconds later, an alarm sounded.

Aile responded immediately by promptly falling onto the floor.

"Oww," she complained, rubbing her head for a second, before jumping to her feet. "What on earth could that be about?"

'Not to seem childish,' Model P said as Aile took the lift down to the floor which the command center was situated on, 'but I _did_ warn you this might happen.'

"Meaning 'I told you so', right?" Aile asked. "Yeah, I guess you did, but there was no reason to expect this might have happened."

Without waiting for a response, Aile hurried onto the bridge, slightly annoyed at being interrupted. Of course, there had to be a good reason for it, but she had been busy non-stop for the past two weeks, and was looking forwards to a day of resting.

Prairie turned around in her chair and stood up. "Thank you for coming, Aile. I'm sorry to interrupt your break, but it is something of importance, and it seemed important for you to know."

"It's fine, Prairie," Aile said, waving her hand slightly, "so what's wrong?"

"There was another Maverick attack," Prairie continued talking quickly over Aile's beginning of an interruption, "but that isn't the emergency. Someone else attacked the Mavericks, and… well, there are two reasons why I think you should go there."

"Why? I mean, our troops are there, right? And if we were helped, it could only be a good thing… right?"

Prairie looked concerned and sad. "It attacked the Mavericks, yes, but… well, that's the first reason. It… seems to be attacking everything in sight. The Mavericks had been raiding a small settlement, a ways from the Inner Peace, and this new figure… it wiped out the Mavericks, but didn't stop there. It… it attacked us, and wounded Morue. I had to order them to fall back, it's too powerful. It really doesn't seem like anything can stop it, and I'm afraid it might attack the townspeople, or that it already did."

"I'll go right away!" Aile cried, slightly horrorstruck. She couldn't believe anyone could do that…she hated fighting, but she did it in order to protect people. The idea of attacking randomly, attacking anything in sight… it sounded almost worse then the Mavericks. The Mavericks acted a lot like that, but they didn't attack those on their side!

"Wait, Aile." Prairie halted her, and for a second Aile was afraid she'd say something about danger and tell her to stay. Not that she'd follow an order like that…

"Before you go, I said there were two reasons. It… seems this new player is in possession of a Biometal."

"W-what?!" Aile drew back slightly, and her eyes unconsciously drifted to the belt around her waist that held the Biometal. "But… we have all of them, don't we?"

"I thought so, but apparently not. There's no mistaking this energy signal. However… Sis didn't make it. I know that for certain."

"S-so there's someone else who made Biometal besides your sister?"

"It certainly seems so. In fact, I'm almost certain. I can't find any other explanation…"

"Okay, Prairie. I'll stop this berserker, and I'll try to find out about the Biometal as well."

Prairie looked relieved at this. "Thank you, Aile. Good luck."

Aile nodded, then reached into her belt pockets. Grabbing a blue Biometal in one hand and a red in the other, she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Rock on!"

* * *

Aile rushed forwards transformed into Model ZX. As per most missions after the fall of Serpent, she didn't have to fight through hoards of small enemies, her enemies not planning any elaborate schemes made it easier for them to travel in one group. So nothing hampered her path as she headed towards the thing she was sent to stop. Prairie didn't seem to have much information about this enemy, so Aile wasn't sure about what she would be up against.

Soon she exited the forest and saw what she quickly discovered was the attacker. The village was built a short was from the forest, however a cliff about thirty feet high separated the two. Aile recoiled slightly at the sight before her. Parts of Mavericks were scattered all around the black figure standing at the edge of the cliff, some even with markings indicating damage besides the dismembering. The town below seemed to be on fire, or had been recently, as smoke billowed from it. It seemed the black fighter had fought the Mavericks in the city as well, as Aile could barely make out twisted forms of Mavericks down there as well. She thought she could make out one or two dead villagers, but she wasn't sure.

The Figure itself was… interesting. It was dressing in all black armor, with something flowing around its back that at first looked like a cape but shortly Aile realized was hair. After slowly circling it at a distance, Aile was able to see his- for she could now tell it was a boy- face. It- he- was gazing intently at the village below, apparently oblivious for all else. But… while a grin was plastered on his face, his red eyes seemed emotionless, almost empty.

Aile pondered this for a second, then narrowed her eyes. He had caused such violence… and _smiled_ about doing it?! She had to stop him from doing any more damage, he wouldn't just stand there looking at the city forever.

Shifting the Z-saber in her hands, she decided to attack directly. Letting out a yell to alert him to her presence, Aile jump-dashed forwards, swinging the saber down at the boy. He twisted around, eyes no longer empty, and a slightly surprised, slightly snarling look on his face. He dodged to one side, then thrust a hand forwards, sending a strange purple energy rippling out.

Aile grabbed the saber with two hands and lifted it vertically to act as an impromptu shield, with the hilt at the top. The energy rushed to either side, leaving her undamaged, but she was thrown backwards. The saber was knocked from her grip, but less then a half second passed before she snatched it, still in the air, with her hand in it's normal grip.

Both she and her opponent were now facing each other straight on at the side of the cliff. Aile gripped the saber tighter and held it in front of her, prepared to attack.

_Looks like I have to get serious._

The black-armored boy decided to make the first move. Seeming to charge up his hand, like Aile was able to in Model X form, only to his hand, not a buster, soon he let loose a large blast of purple energy like before. Aile had been prepared for this, dodging to the side and then rushing forwards. The boy snarled softly as he leapt backwards. He then raised an arm, transforming it into a buster. This took Aile by surprise, and was thrown back by the rapid, random blasts coming from the arm cannon. It seemed that, while it was weaker, the blaster was faster than the purple energy.

Aile skidded a few feet along the grass, tearing up the dirt slightly. Deciding to fight fire with fire, so to speak, she whipped out her own gun and started firing on her enemy. This move took him by surprise as well, but he threw up his arms to protect his face. Aile swiftly transformed into Model PX, and started firing a seemingly endless stream of kunai.

This seemed to have a good effect, as they pierced through his armor and threw him backwards. With a cry, the boy landed only a few feet from the cliff's edge.

"Che." The boy said, with an annoyed frown. Suddenly, he smirked and thrust out an arm, still lying on the ground.

Aile gasped as the purple energy headed towards her, too fast to dodge. _He must have been charging up…!_

She was thrown back herself, towards the forest behind her. Switching back to Model ZX form, she leapt forwards at the boy once more.

She managed to hit him once or twice with her sword, but he took these blows far too calmly. He then raised a hand and let out a purple energy blast point-blank at the girl's abdomen.

"A…AAGH!" Aile cried in pain as she was flung backwards, her sword knocked out of her hands. She quickly drew out and emptied the contents of an energy tank she was now very thankful she had decided to bring along.

Aile looked at the saber lying several feet away from where she was knocked down. There wasn't enough time to retrieve it; the boy was already approaching her, smirking.

Suddenly Aile snapped into action, dashed not towards her weapon but to the boy. This took him by surprise, this fact written on his face, and she swiftly wrenched his arms behind his back and held them there.

"Hey!" He cried, the first words Aile heard him speak, as he tried to wrench away from the girl's grip. Fortunately, she was strong enough to hold him. "Let me go!"

"No. You could hurt someone, and I can't allow that."

He turned to her and smirked, with a hint of… she hesitated to call it "evilness", but that was what it seemed like. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Aile took in a sharp breath, but kept her grip on his wrists tight. "It _is _a bad thing." She said through gritted teeth.

"I just want to kill the Mavericks. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"No, but what you're doing isn't just attacking Mavericks. What you're doing is hurting innocent people as well, and like I said, I won't allow that to happen."

The boy was silent for a short time. Aile wondered if he wasn't going to say anything, when he spoke again.

"I don't want to hurt anyone other then the Mavericks. I didn't know… I guess I just attacked anyone that got in the way of that goal. I need to kill all the Mavericks."

"Why? I want to rid the world of them as well, but not so badly I'd be willing to kill innocents."

The boy was silent again. Aile sighed slightly.

"You wouldn't understand." The boy said finally. Aile rolled her eyes; with what she had gone through, she doubted she would completely not be able to relate to him. Still, it seemed obvious he would refuse to continue with this topic.

"Fine. What are you doing with a Biometal, then?"

The boy looked confused. "Biometal? …You mean Forte?"

Aile seemed slightly taken aback, she thought everyone knew about Biometal. Then she remembered that five years ago she was clueless about Biometal, and she still had no idea what they were until Model X explained it to her. Biometal wasn't exactly common knowledge, Aile had just forgotten this fact as all the people she came in contact with knew about it. Still, why hadn't his Biometal informed him about itself?

"I suppose, if Forte is the name of your Biometal. How did you come into possession of it?"

"Why should I tell you?"

Aile frowned. "Stop acting like a child. How old are you, anyway?"

"Nineteen… I think."

"You "think"?"

"You have something against thinking?"

Aile let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, how did you find out about this… Forte? Where did it come from?"

"I… don't really know. He just… showed up." Shinigami deliberately glossed over the situation of his "showing up". "He doesn't know where he came from either." The boy finished helpfully.

This confused Aile… but this would explain why the boy had no idea what Biometal was.

While Aile was pondering this, the boy twisted away from her grip suddenly. Aile was slightly stunned, and unable to regain a grip as he ran away. Just as he was about to leave, she called out to him.

"Wait!"

She hadn't really expected that to stop him, but the boy halted and turned to face her, still several yards away.

"What's your name?"

He smiled slightly. "Shinigami."

"S-Shinigami? What kind of parent would name their child after a god of death?"

"I didn't say that was what my parents named me."

"Then what-" Aile cut herself off as the boy leapt away swiftly. She probably could have caught up with him, but she decided to leave him to his own devices for the moment.

"Shinigami…"

* * *

Shinigami stood on a cliff, overlooking the expanse of forest beneath him. Canceling his transformation, he caught Forte in his hand as he sat down, legs dangling over the cliff side. He looked at the object in his hand, curiosity swelling.

_Biometal, huh?_

* * *

Authors notes: Mmkay, just a few points: One, where on earth _do _Vent/Aile keep the Biometal? (Okay, so that's kind-of like asking where Link keeps his bajillion-plus items in the Legend of Zelda series…) The only place I can think of are those pockets on their pants, but aren't the Biometal a little big for that? Sorry, I just want to make everything seem plausible. And Aile's outfit seems slightly out of place, seeing as her outfit in Advent is basically the same as in the original, but I figured so variety would be nice. Not to mention how I wore that exact same outfit… (I look a lot like Aile from the original. Only with long hair. The Rockman character from any series I look like most is Yuriko from the .EXE anime, only younger. Sorry, I like rambling a lot.) Oh yes, and two: I based Forte's attacks off of his .EXE version, since, from what I've seen of him, the original Forte's attacks are basically just the Bass Buster (okay, that'd be Bass, not Forte, but meh. I don't play the Japanese versions of the games…), fusing with Treble, and Robot Master's weapons. Since there is no Treble, or Robot Masters, I figured I'd give him other powers. Granted, I could have him go along the way, gaining powers from enemies, but he kind-of needed to have plenty of power to start out with. I won't have get-ability, though, for two reasons. Mostly since it's part of Forte.EXE's programming, not attacks, (Is that making any sense?) but also it's seem a bit too much like A-trans.

Oh yes, one more thing. I consider Aile to dislike fighting, seeing how much damage it has done to her and those around her, but she's still more then willing to fight in order to protect people. (Like Quatre-kun!) Besides, she's X's chosen one. That in itself would require a slightly pacifistic attitude. So, that was my thinking for that. And just to make it clear, Aile's 19 here, just like Duo. Oh yeah, and while Duo isn't suicidal anymore, now that he's planning on destroying all the Mavericks, he still doesn't really care about himself, as shown by him sitting on the edge of a cliff. (Sorry, that just reminded me of the LWW Gamecube game I was playing with my brother earlier, I was Edmund and he was Peter for the most part and Edmund had suicidal tendencies since everybody picked on him. Also, Peter would do that joint attack with Edmund to hit him into those exploding barrels, and he forced Edmund to climb the trees in order to get coins, and my brother said "money, money, money." Sorry, rambling again. I like rambling, sorry.)

Don'tcha just love Morue? He's definitely one of my favorite Guardians.

And with that, I take my leave. Bye all! (Well, until I post the next chapter… yikes, that was one long Author's Note. X.X)


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer and warning: I own the rights to none of the Megaman series, and I don't own the rights to Gundam Wing either, even though Duo's acting somewhat OOC. It's quite possible he'd act that way, though. Oh yes, starting this chapter there will be Advent spoilers. Man, I love that game. Promy-kun!

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Three

Aile walked into the control room slowly, lost in her thoughts. Shinigami? Why did he call himself that? And why on earth did she let him just leave like that? She was confident she could have stopped him… but really, what would she do then? He wasn't a Maverick, so she wouldn't have killed him, and capture him? Despite his berserker attitude, he wasn't evil, and she would have no real reason to restrain him. He fought against the Mavericks as well… so did that make him an ally?

Aile hoped not. They could be heading towards the same goal, but they were still completely different.

"Aile!" Prairie called as her friend and subordinate entered the room. "How did everything go?"

"I…" Aile paused, unsure how to answer that question. "…He got away." She finished finally, unable to think of what else to say.

"Oh." Prairie answered. Her face looked grim.

"I don't think he'll try to hurt us, though, he's trying to get rid of the Mavericks…" Aile cut herself off. What would she say? That she had beaten (well, sort of) a warrior who had injured a Guardian and maybe some townspeople… then had a nice little chat with him and let him go? Aile was sure she wouldn't be able to explain _that _one.

Fortunately, Prairie looked somewhat reassured by Aile's words. "If you're sure he won't attack us…"

"I'm… well, _almost_ sure, Prairie."

Prairie nodded and her expression turned grim once more. "It seems we have a bigger problem on our hands."

"What, just since I was gone?" Aile joked.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure when it started… but, well, you know how the being you just fought had a Biometal?"

"Yes."

"We didn't know about that Biometal before we scanned, because we didn't think to look for it. I only thought of it seeing as we were attacked by something much more powerful than usual. However… I decided to send out a scan for other Biometal and… we found traces of many… much more even then when fighting Serpent."

"W…What?" Aile blinked. The whole situation had seemed so impossible to her before that the impact hadn't quite hit her yet.

"We found three unidentified signals coming from one concentrated area," Prairie continued, "but they don't seem to be active. The main problem is the identified Biometal signatures… the ones scattered all over the place, sparsely thankfully… but they… well they share the same signature as Model W…"

"Model W!!" Aile cried. "But… that's… that's…" Aile gritted her teeth and lowered her head. "…This shouldn't be happening… This should have been finished!!" Aile screamed the last part, earning a few startled glances, but she couldn't care less at the moment. Model W was the embodiment of evil in her mind, it's only purpose destruction and death, drawing its strength from the poor, frightened souls of the innocent. It was the only thing Aile had felt wholly and completely justified in killing… even Serpent, after all he had done to her and as twisted as he had become, she had felt some regret in his death. He was a living being, after all, and not even truly evil, just utterly insane. Model W, on the other hand, had no soul to be lost. As justice for the many souls and lives it had taken, including Serpent's, was its complete and utter destruction. And now, she finds that not only was it not dead, but there were many others, still alive and ready to cause damage? All she fought for, those years ago… all the people who had suffered… Giro's death… it all had absolutely no point?

Aile slumped against the computer to her side. Her eyes narrowed. It would _not _be in vain; none of it would. She'd continue on fighting until she destroyed all of the Model W's, no matter how long it took or how hard it became.

"Prairie." Aile said, her voice thick and emotional. "I want you to prepare the transporter for the closest Model W."

"Aile, you can't fight it in that state!" Prairie cried out, concerned for her friend's well being. "You know how strong it is, you'll just put yourself in danger if you go now!"

"Then fly there, and I'll rest while I'm waiting! I had an E tank already anyway." Aile protested.

Prairie looked at her for a few moments, and, as she calmed down, Aile remembered that it was Prairie, not she, who was in charge of the ship and the Guardians. She looked around her wearily to find the Operators and a few Guardians who happened to enter the room staring at the two girls.

Aile raised a hand to cover her face in an attempt to calm herself down. She couldn't remember the last time she got worked up like that… and she never yelled at Prairie. She couldn't remember even arguing with the girl before; they had practically become best friends since they met, even with the whole Giro business. And, even despite all this, there was the fact that Prairie was Aile's superior, no matter how innocent and childish she acted at times.

"I'm sorry, Prairie." Aile lowered her head. "I was just… Model W…"

"I understand." Prairie smiled at her that smile of hers that seemed both motherly and like a little sister's all at the same time. "It was horrible when I found out as well, and you've had much more trouble with it… well, I suppose that's an understatement."

"Thank you, Prairie." Aile smiled slightly, suddenly feeling tired. While energy and sub tanks restored her energy, they didn't repair any damage, and could even be slightly harmful as, when her energy levels rose, her pain lessened accordingly. The robotic implants had always confused Aile slightly.

"Go rest, Aile. The world won't break if you wait a few hours."

Aile nodded, then walked out the door and down the corridor. As she fell backwards onto her bed, all thoughts of the battle with Shinigami, the new Biometal, and the Model W's disappeared, and she only desired sleep.

* * *

Shinigami lay down on the forest floor, with Forte hovering nearby. He felt incredibly confused by all that had happened. First he was about to die, then he was saved by Forte, then he ran off to stop the Mavericks, and then… he closed his eyes tightly. He… couldn't really remember what had happened then. It was somewhat blurry, as if he had been only half awake. All he could remember was fighting, fighting, fighting… he couldn't tell what he was fighting or if he was fighting anything at all. And then… he had been stopped. He talked to a girl, but he couldn't fully remember what was said. He did remember one important thing she said, though…

"Forte…" the boy said tentatively.

'Hmm?'

"Was… was that girl right? About… me hurting innocent people."

'I'm not really sure. I couldn't really tell who we were attacking. I thought this was because you were in control.'

Shinigami was silent for a few minutes.

"Forte, I think we should stay unmerged except when fighting."

'What? Why?' Forte almost whined.

"I don't want to hurt people, Forte, or not be in control of myself."

'Like you were in control of yourself when I showed up?'

Shinigami let out a small chuckle. He decided he wouldn't die, not now that he could kill the Mavericks. After that, Shin wasn't exactly sure what he'd do, but he'd figure it out then. It was nice having Forte around, Shin decided, since he was someone he could talk to, and almost be a friend… but he wouldn't die.

'It's not really a picnic, not having a body.' Forte grumbled quietly.

"Hey, it's not _my _fault you don't have a body." Shin protested.

'I know. But seriously, once I find the guy who did this to me, I'm gonna _pulverize _him!'

"Oh? How are you gonna do that? Float around and whack him on the head and hope not to accidentally merge with him?"

'Well, I was hoping you'd help me kill whoever it was…'

"What gave you that idea?"

'Counting on it, really…'

Shin laughed "Sure, sure, fine. Of course I'll help you. We're partners, right?" It was a few seconds before Shin realized Forte wasn't responding. "F-Forte?"

'Huh?'

"Something wrong?"

'I… nothing. I'm just… I don't like being partners with anyone.'

"Yeah, well, neither do I. My excuse is that all the people who get close to me die. What's yours?"

'Oh… sorry.'

"Uh… no, it's fine." Shinigami blinked in surprise as he realized he had told Forte about that. He hadn't planned on it, but he felt comfortable around Forte… a lot more at ease then he felt with other humans.

'Um, well, my excuse isn't as dramatic or important as that one, I guess.' Forte continued with the previous conversation to divert from Shin's misfortune. 'It's just that I'm… well, somewhat prideful, I suppose-'

"Really, I _never_ would have guessed that." Shin stated dryly.

'…Aaanyway, besides that, it's also that all the times I've had to be a partner with someone- before now, of course- it's been with my arch rival and enemy. Either that or his brother.'

"Huh. I can see why you don't like partners then… Forte, what was life like for you before?"

'Huh?' Forte seemed slightly startled at the abrupt subject change.

"You've mentioned what life was like before you changed into what you are now. I was just wondering what you were before."

'Well… I was made by Dr. Wily, for the first part.' Shin couldn't quite make out the tone in Forte's voice, whether it was pride or embarrassment or disgust.

"Who's Dr. Wily?"

'Who's- what do you mean, who's Dr. Wily?!' Forte demanded. 'I mean, of course he wouldn't have a chance of succeeding without me, but still… hey, what year is it?'

Shinigami was highly confused with Forte's rambling that it took him a while to realize he'd been asked a question and regain his bearings.

"Um, 25XX…"

'25XX!! It's been half a millenium?!' Forte exploded.

"Wha? You're from five hundred years ago?!" Shin had fallen over.

'Hey, I'm as surprised about this revelation as you are.' Forte stated sourly.

"Fine… but what was your life like?"

Forte told Shinigami parts of his life, perhaps leaving out or glossing over a few facts, particularly the number of times Megaman had beaten him. He actually didn't learn Rock's name until well into the story…

'And Dr. Wily kidnapped Roll for some reason I'm not quite sure- I told you about Roll, right?- and me and Blues had to save her since the wimpy pacifist was off-'

"Why do you call him that?"

'Call who what?'

"Whoever you call "Wimpy pacifist". I haven't heard you refer to him as anything else… what's his name?"

'His name's Megaman.' Forte growled, quite obviously angry even at the mention of the name.

"Geez, overreacting a bit, aren't you?"

'No. Anyway, he and Duo-'

"DUO?!" Shinigami looked startled.

Forte would've raised an eyebrow if he had one. 'Yeah, he's an alien. Why do you have to interrupt so often anyway?'

"No- no reason. I won't anymore, continue."

'So those two went after Wily while I saved Roll-'

"You and Blues, you mean."

'Huh?'

"You said earlier Blues helped you save her."

'Well, yeah, but it was mostly me.'

Shin couldn't honestly tell whether Forte was exaggerating or telling the truth.

'So, I became a hero, which was weird and confusing. But then I got right back to fighting Megaman, which was better. I did find out Wily was working on some new, powerful robot… all I can remember right now is that it looked like a girl…'

Eventually, Forte finished his story.

'The attack… well, I'm not quite sure what started it, or who was behind it, but it wasn't Wily, that was certain. I wanted to go out and play the hero again, but Wily stopped me. And…'

Forte fell silent, and Shin was careful not to disturb him while he thought.

'And… I can't really remember what happened. All I remember is being sealed in a capsule in a hurry and then, the next thing I know, I'm here. It was weird, since you can't remember anything in stasis, it seemed like I just closed my eyes and suddenly I lost my body. Which is an odd experience to say the least. Once I figured out how to float-'

"After freaking out first."

'…Yes… well, then I tried to find where I was. There was nothing else around, I was lying in an empty house… it was completely bare, and only had that room. I left, and saw you… well, that's it. So, what's your story, then?'

"I'll tell you tomorrow." Shinigami said as he noticed how late it had become. The sky was dark, and the sun had set a few hours before… not to mention he was starting to feel tired.

Pulling a blanket out of a worn bag Forte hadn't noticed before, Shinigami proceeded to lie down, with the bag as a pillow.

'What's in there?'

"Oh, some food… a few E crystals… nothing much. We'll fight some more Mavericks tomorrow, right Forte?"

'Um… yes, but weren't you concerned…?'

"As much as I want people not to get hurt, to most important thing is to destroy the Mavericks. I'm not going to let anything, not even the townspeople, and not that girl either, get in the way of that." Shin's eyes had narrowed dangerously as he glared at the star-filled sky above him.

'…Good night, Shinigami.'

Shin blinked, waking from his musings. "Good night, Forte." He said almost cheerfully, then followed by turning away from the Biometal and curling up under his blanket.

* * *

When Shin opened his eyes the next morning, he immediately shut them again. When he pried them open once more with a hand raised to shield them from the morning sun, he decided with certainty to sleep under a tree the next night.

"You up, Forte?"

'Yeah.'

"Great. Let's go and fight soon as I'm up." Shinigami decided as he reached into his sack and pulled out a half-eaten loaf of bread and some variety of green apple. The two ate, well, Shin ate and Forte sat around bored, in silence. Once Shin had shoved the last bite of bread in his mouth, he swallowed and asked Forte,

"Well, where should we go next?"

'Don't ask me, I'm clueless.' It looked like Forte had tried to shrug, but it was hard to tell.

"Yeah, I've noticed about the clueless part," Forte made some sort of indignant noise Shin pointedly ignored, "but really, what do we do now."

'Hey, it's _your _revenge plan, not mine.'

"But we're partners!" Shin sighed and lay back on the grass. "Revenge can be confusing business."

'Well, you won't accomplish anything lying around like that! We can just wander around and try to find some Mavericks, I suppose…'

"Sounds better than nothing." Shin agreed, then stood up and appraised the clearing he had chosen to sleep in. Slipping his blanket into the pack, his picked it up and placed it against a tree. "There. This'll be our home, it'll work as well as anything. So, let's go! And, Forte… I still want to be careful, let's not transform until we come across some Mavericks."

'But, Shin…'

"I'll transform as soon as I see any Mavericks, no need to worry about my well-being."

'What if they come from behind you? Humans aren't exactly the most durable creature, as easy as grunt Mavericks are to destroy, one shot from their guns could kill a human.'

"You'll just have to watch my back, then."

Without waiting for a response, Shin chose a random direction and started off.

* * *

Aile groaned as she woke from her sleep.

'Good morning Aile!' Model X greeted cheerfully. 'Did you have a nice rest?'

'She better have,' Model F grumbled, 'She slept all though the afternoon AND the night…'

"Yes, I _did _have a nice rest, Model X." Aile said politely, noting the information Model F kindly supplied. "…Did I really sleep that long?"

'You certainly did.' Model Z agreed.

"Well, I feel a lot better at any rate." Aile let out an exaggerated yawn as she stretched, then leapt from her bed. "Ugh, my hair's a mess…"

'I didn't know you cared about your hair, Aile.' Model H said.

"Well, I just don't want to look like a mess." Aile claimed, as she grabbed a fresh set of clothes, a long-sleeved blue shirt with light tan pants and entered the small bathroom joined to her room. Usually the Guardians had to use a public bathroom, but saving the world gave one special privileges, this being one of them. A few minutes later, she returned, dressed in the new clothes and running a hairbrush through her hair. Then she grabbed a ponytail holder and drew her hair into a loose ponytail.

'It's nice to see you're in a better mood than before you went to sleep.' Model X said cheerfully.

"Yeah, well, I try not to let things like that get to me. There's nothing I can do about it but try my best to stop them, right?" Aile pointed out as she headed towards the control room.

Prairie was already sitting in the command chair, and Aile wondered vaguely for a minute if Prairie ever slept.

"Hello, Prairie… um, I'm sorry about yesterday."

"It's fine, Aile."

Deciding not to dwell on it any longer, Aile got down to business. "So, where's the closest Model W signal?"

"It's in a cave not more than twenty miles away. But Aile, be careful when fighting these. Not being merged with a chosen one will hamper its power significantly, but it will still be incredibly strong. Not up to the level of Serpent, but… well, perhaps the most accurate comparison we can make is to the Pseudoriods."

Aile winced. "Well, that isn't a pleasant concept."

Prairie smiled. "It shouldn't be that hard for you, I believe your skills and power have grown in the past four years."

"I hope so, anyway," Aile muttered. "The location's programmed in the TransServer?"

"Yes, we should be able to get you fairly close to the W-roid."

"W-roid?"

Prairie blushed. "That's what we decided to call whatever Model W possesses for the moment."

"Sounds kinda stupid to me, but whatever. I don't have any better ideas, and it doesn't really matter what you call it as long as I get rid of it. Bye, Prairie!" Aile waved as she dashed out of the room.

'Aile, you should try to keep from saying everything that pops into your head…' Model X said, sweatdropping.

"Believe me, if I always said what was on my mind, I'd get in trouble a _lot _more often." Aile stated as she stood on the TransServer and selected the mission.

'And you were chiding that boy for childishness yesterday…' Model Z grumbled.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Aile said, as she chose "Accept Mission" and transported to the cave containing the… W-roid…

* * *

Aile dashed through the cave's dark corridors, using Model PX to navigate.

"Why didn't I think of how dark this would be?" She complained as she tried to make it to the chamber containing her enemy as soon as possible.

Fortunately, that room was larger and well lit, several lanterns splaying light on the sandy-brown rocks. Unfortunately, the W-roid looked like it would be a hassle, even discounting the Model W fused with it. Aile could see the Model W's purple "eye" gleaming from a hole in the W-roid's oversized left shoulder. The W-roid itself was about twenty to twenty-five feet tall, with it's left arm seeming misplaced, as it dwarfed the rest of it's body. The color scheme was a brown slightly darker than the cave it lived in and a dirty white. It seemed to be simply a Mechaniloid, as it moved and fought with no real imagination…

Aile blinked. Moving and attacking? But Aile was sure it hadn't seen her, besides, it was facing the other way…

Aile heard a cry of pain as a black figure was grabbed by the right hand and thrown against the wall not far from Aile. The girl's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief as she recognized the figure staggering to his feet.

"Shinigami?!"

* * *

Authors note: Yeah, the romance aspect won't come in for a while. For a long time they'll mostly be wary of the other, since Aile doesn't know why Du-er, Shinigami (boy, that's a long name. Why did I choose to have him rename himself that anyway? X.X Well, I know why, but still…) acts the way he does, and Shin feels like Aile attacked him. Oh yeah, he won't even find out her name for a few chapters. XP

And, yes, the three "other" Biometals will come in. I bet you can guess who they are. XP

Forte and Shin merging is interesting, since usually the Biometal and Humanoid or Reploid completely merge, and both of them are in control and of one mind. However, for Shinigami and Forte, even though they're a lot alike, when they merge, they both keep their own minds, and each are in half-control, which is why they go out of control. I'm not completely sure why this happens, but it's probably because neither of them are completely stable. -grin.- Oh yeah, I'm trying hard, but Forte's personality seems to be more like Warrock's then his own…

And yes, of course the year ends in XX. I'm not exactly sure about the first number though, just making a guess.

And, 'wimpy pacifist'… er, well, when I finished The Power Fighters as Bass, Wily said he was trying to make Bass like Megaman, and I-as Bass- said "Ha! Why would you try to base me off that wimpy pacifist?". It's really fun being Bass, he's the only one I really like to play as. I can sometimes play Blues but Bass is a lot easier for me for some reason. And I didn't say all of Forte's past, because I would assume most people know it, and it would take up a lot of unnecessary space. I don't generally like RollXForte, actually, I don't care for any pairings in the original series that much, but I thought it would be fun.

W-roid is a completely stupid title I just made up as I wrote it. Well, I needed something to call them!


	4. Chapter Four

Short note: Happy Good Friday everyone! And happy 16th birthday Niilan-chan! And happy belated White Day! And Pi day! (Can't believe I fogot about those last Friday...)

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Rockman or Gundam Wing. Or MegaMan. Or Mega Man. Or -gets whacked on the back of my head- Oww… anyway, on to the story!

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Four

Shin really didn't know what he was getting into when he left to fight the Mavericks. After walking a ways, he came across a cave that didn't look too suspicious, but hey, it was a change of scenery and there obviously weren't any Mavericks in the forest he was currently searching. Now, he seemed to have a bigger problem. Instead of worthless opponents, now he was facing a new Maverick (at least, that's what he _assumed _it was, as it automatically started attacking him) that was, quite frankly, beating him to a pulp. He had managed to hit it several times with his "Darkness Overload", as he had dubbed the purple energy, but he had no idea if it was having any effect. He managed to slow it down once or twice, and he noticed a hole in the armor of the left shoulder, but he hadn't been able to angle himself to hit the supposed weak spot without getting thrown back by an attack. Having Forte yell at him all the time didn't make things easier, either.

And now that girl showed up. Yeah, this was turning out to be a great day. Absolutely wonderful.

"What are you doing here?" Shin growled as he lifted himself up and swung an arm, cannon formed, at the girl. "As you can see, I'm busy right now. So, leave me alone or I'll shoot you."

"Well, aren't you pleasant." The girl mumbled. "Look, I have a reason to fight, and I'm not leaving. Fight me if you'd like, but it seems to me we have a bigger problem on our hands." The girl said this as she casually pulled out her sword and blocked the right fist of the behemoth.

"What are you saying?" Shin cried in disbelief as they both leapt in opposite directions from the left fist slamming into the ground. "That we should work together?"

"Either that or you leave. I don't want you getting in my way." The girl wasn't even looking at him; her eyes were fixed on the monster, seemingly calculating her next move.

"Hey, I almost beat you yesterday!" Shin cried, indignant at the "in the way" comment.

"Yes, and you might have beaten me for real," the girl continued, whipping out her gun and firing a few test shots before dodging the right hand once more, still refusing to look his way. "But I still beat you in the end. You might be powerful, but I'm more skilled. That gives me the advantage, especially over enemies like this."

'She's really getting on my nerves,' Forte growled.

"Fine! I'll help you, but I'll beat you once this is over!" Shin called out, ignoring Forte's comment.

This time, the girl turned towards him and smirked. "I'd like to see you try."

Shin let out a groan, but dashed forward to attack the Maverick once more.

_How in the world did it change from me reprimanding her to her reprimanding me?_

* * *

Aile narrowed her eyes as she analyzed the W-roid in front of her. It was obvious the weak point was the shoulder, but how would she reach it? None of the Biometal's except H had flight capability, and that was too risky since she would then have to get close to the W-roid, which would make her an even easier target. Aile sighed as she turned to Shinigami, who had once again drawn all the attention of the W-roid with his wild and uncalculated attacks. How did she end up allied with him, however temporary that alliance may be? Hadn't she felt grateful the other day not to be allied with him? Well, that _was _before she found out about the Model W's. That knowledge changed everything, and Aile was now grateful for any ally she had. Still, while she disliked him less, his attacking style could definitely use improvement, but it was possible he was just starting, and he probably would gain skill as time went on. 

However, at the moment, he was simply no help at all.

Aile kept herself from telling him to leave. He was trying to help… he was failing miserably, but he was still trying.

The W-roid seemed to have all bodily attacks, and its lack of legs made the arms it's only weapon of attack. These it put to good use, however, as, while it had limited mobility and speed, the size and power of its punches could make it almost fatal to get hit once by the larger arm. The two Mega Men dodged the fists fairly easily, however, even as time wore on, they seemed to be doing no real damage… and, even though they had not gotten hit, they had some pretty close scrapes, and were wearing out anyway.

Shin rested against the side of the cave, catching his breath while the girl had the Maverick's attention.

"What's… wrong, Forte? I thought I was a good fighter, but even teamed up it looks like we're losing!"

'You're human.' Was Forte's only explanation. 'And your opponent's too strong to go at without some sort of strategy.'

"I hate making strategies," Shin murmured as he pushed himself away from the wall.

He was unable to elaborate on that thought any more, however, as the large left fist was suddenly heading straight for him. Shin blinked; it was all he could really do at the moment. He was trapped against the wall, nearly in a corner, and the fist covered all the area he could run to in the short about of time.

Shin was just starting to brace himself, when he felt something grab him by the shoulders, right before the fist smashed down. He was surprised to find himself hovering in the air several feet above the fist, which had now crashed into the stone wall, with a pair of green arms hooked underneath his armpits.

"Be more careful," Aile chided, as they stayed hovering.

"Wait!" Shin cried, just before the girl was going to lower the two of them to the floor. "I finally have a good shot at that shoulder!" He finished as the let loose a blast of purple energy at the hole in the W-roid's shoulder. The Maverick yelled in pain as it moved backwards slightly.

Aile couldn't keep in flight any longer, and lowered the two of them to the floor gently.

"So that's how we beat it? Teamwork?"

"Well, even though we've been "allies", we haven't really been working together." Shin admitted. "This is our best chance of beating it."

"Well, nothing else has been doing any good." Aile agreed, somewhat resignedly, to the arrangement, then lifted Shin up once more like she had before and air dashed upwards.

"This isn't very comfortable," Shin complained as he sent out a charged up blast at the shoulder once more.

"Deal with it," Aile snapped as the left fist slammed between the two, forcing them apart. She jumped up the side of the hand in order the get back to her temporary partner.

"Hey, watch out!" Shin called out. Aile turned to see the right fist heading towards her. Before she could dodge, however, Duo had jumped forwards, knocking her down and out of the way.

"That… wasn't really necessary… please get off me…" Aile said, blushing, as she pushed off the leg that had landed on top of her own.

Shin could think of multiple responses to give, but chose a meek, "Oh, sorry." seeing as the Maverick was about ready to attack again, and he need the girl's help to win.

Aile blushed as she picked the boy up once more, but she tried to push the thought out of her mind. She never did very well when distracted…

_At least he landed next to me, not _on _me…_ She decided. Aile couldn't understand why the boy did that… she could have easily gotten out of the way, he gave her a warning with enough time for that… maybe he was just trying to return the favor of her saving him earlier?

Shin let out another blast, but the right hand rocketed towards the two and Aile barely had time to drop to the floor to avoid being hit. She gritted her teeth; this was taking way too long. They finally had a way to damage it, but now the W-roid was attacking even more. An idea came to her, it was a gamble, but if it worked…

"Hey, Shinigami! Can you wall jump?"

"What's that?"

Aile sighed. "Just… watch me, okay? Follow my lead." She called as she transformed back into Model ZX and started jumping up the wall.

Shin stared in amazement as she got her self almost to the ceiling, then jumped off, with her sword activated and she herself spinning in a circle, the sword circling her completely. She fell near the shoulder, and the sword did some damage to it as she flew past.

"Forte! We have to do that!"

'I… don't know if I can do that…'

"We have to try!" Shin decided, and dashed forwards towards the wall. He jumped off of it, and promptly landed on the ground. The right fist headed towards him, but he rolled out of the way.

"Look, pay attention, okay? You should be able to." Aile… well, Shin was sure if it could be called "encouraged", exactly, but it was something like that. The girl then leapt up the wall once more, and Shin could see now that she jump up as well as out, and was able to grab onto the wall, then continue in that fashion. Shin tried his best to mimic her, and soon found himself progressing up the wall rapidly. Not stopping to wonder, he leapt off and let out a fully charged energy blast at the weak point.

Aile glanced up at the W-roid once more to assess it. It's movements were speeding up slightly, but it seemed that it was following a pattern Aile had found was common among Pseudoroids she had fought: as soon as it's in real danger of being destroyed, they start attacking with all their strength. 

"Shinigami! I think we're wearing it down… let's try to attack at the same time, hopefully that will destroy it." Aile called out. Shin nodded in agreement, and the two wall-jumped up, and let out their attacks simultaneously. 

It was knocked backwards slightly; then, as Aile expected, beams of light shot out of its core.

"You might want to step back, Shinigami."

"Huh?" Shin turned to her, but she had jumped back in a side tunnel. Shin ran after her.

"Hey, what was that about-"

Shin was cut off by an explosion that knocked him forwards and onto his face.

Aile smirked. "_That_ is what that was about."

Shin lifted himself onto his elbows and turned his head to view the room they had just been fighting in. All that was left of the behemoth they had been fighting was a few pieces of what was now scrap metal.

"That…" Shin blinked, then a wide smile appeared on his face. "That was awesome! Forte! Did you see that? I trashed that Maverick!" Shin said excitedly.

"Ahem." Aile said, and Shin stopped his excitement to turn to the girl, who was looking slightly annoyed.

"WHO was it who came in here, saved your hide, and showed you how to beat it?"

"Oh… heh heh… sorry. But that was awesome!"

For some reason, the girl's eyes narrowed. "No, it isn't awesome. It's terrible, and it shouldn't need to be done."

"What- saving my skin, or trashing the Maverick?" Shin asked. The two had now started walking out of the cave.

"W-roid."

"Huh?"

"What we just fought… it's called a W-roid."

Shin wrinkled his nose. "That's a stupid name."

"That's exactly what I said!"

Shin blinked as he looked at the girl. Her face flushed slightly in embarrassment. "Er, look, never mind."

"Why's it called a W-roid, anyway?"

"Because it's a Mechaniloid fused with a Biometal… well, a Model W."

"Model W?"

Aile sighed. "I forgot, you know nothing about this. Well… Model Ws are the core cause of Maverick outbreaks. That's why I'm trying to destroy them."

"I'll have to destroy them too, then."

Aile chuckled slightly. "You might want to practice against normal Mavericks a bit more first." Here Aile's eyes narrowed once more. "You're powerful, that's for sure. But Model W is cunning and devious, not to mention powerful."

They walked in silence for several minutes, working their way out of the cave. Suddenly, Shin spoke up.

"That wall jump thing was interesting… but how did you know I could do it? I never even thought to try it…"

Aile smiled slightly. "I just guessed. But really, not trying doesn't matter. There was a lot I can do with the Biometal I couldn't before, and I wouldn't have thought of trying if Model X hadn't suggested trying."

"Model X?"

"He's my Biomatch."

Shin blinked. "What's that?"

"Look, with the Biometal, for each one, there is a person, a Chosen One, who is able to merge with them. They and the Biometal are Biomatches to each other."

As she finished her sentence, Aile and Shin stepped out into the sunlight.

"Um… if Model X is your Biomatch, then how come you can transform into those different forms?"

Shin realized at once that he had asked the wrong question. Aile seemed to try to hold herself back from glaring at him.

"Goodbye, Shinigami." She said shortly, and left swiftly.

"Hey, wait-" Shin called, but the girl had dashed off.

'Gee, she's treating you like you treated her yesterday, isn't she?' Forte said wryly.

"But… But…"

Shinigami still didn't know her name.

* * *

Once Aile reached the Transerver, she quickly filed her Mission Report and transported back to the Guardian Base. She walked swiftly out of the room towards the command room to tell Prairie what happened… and collapsed against the side of the wall.

'Aile!' Several of the Biometals called out at once.

"Unn…" Aile groaned as she tried to pick herself up, but slumped down to her knees. She rested her head against the wall and started breathing hard. Everything was slightly hazy, not just her sight but her hearing as well.

Model L was about to try and get Prairie even though Biometals were unable to enter doors by themselves, when Carrelet walked by.

The boy gasped and ran up to the girl.

"Are you okay, Aile? What's wrong?"

Aile shook her head. "I'm fine… I just got dizzy…"

"Are you sure?" Carrelet asked worriedly.

Aile nodded, her gaze fixed on the floor as it had been for the past minute.

"Then stand up."

Aile raised her head to look at him. "…Huh?"

"If you're fine, you can stand up." Carrelet stated, folding his arms.

"Fine then, if it'll make you happy…" Aile said, as she used the wall to drag herself up. Suddenly, a somewhat numb feeling ran through her body, and she collapsed. Carrelet managed to catch her before she fell too far.

"I'm taking you to Muguet," Carrelet said firmly, supporting her as he walked to the lift that would take them to the medic's room. 

Carrelet expected Aile to argue, but she rested, slumped against him for support. He smiled slightly.

"You'll be fine, Aile, I'm sure of that."

Aile didn't respond. The world seemed so far away, as if she was only half there. She vaguely felt the lift raise her up, and Carrelet walking her to Muguet's room, and finally being laid down on a bed.

"Go to sleep, Aile." She heard a kind voice speak these words, and complied immediately.

* * *

Authors Notes: Yeah, by the end I was just tired of the fight. -.- So, finally, I want to thank everyone who reviewed! I would have done this sooner, but I wrote too much for Authors Notes. Why do I have to ramble? Anyway, thank you so, so much for people who reviewed! I'm very happy you all seem to enjoy the story so far. I actually have usually had the next chapter written a day or two after I post a chapter, but I'm trying to post regularly so I don't post nothing for several weeks. Um… yeah. Oh yeah, the W-roids are kinda like a cross between Pseudoroids and that really annoying Miniboss in the Quarry… Meaning they are strong, but have the sentience of a Mechaniloid.

Anyway, Shin and Forte seem to be getting more in-sync, since they're not going on random attack-everybody sprees, but still, they sometimes get out of control. I'll try to demonstrate that next chapter. And Aile's little breakdown… I just needed something semi-exciting to end the chapter. That sort of thing happens to me sometimes, less frequently then it used to, fortunately, but I figured I'd write about something I actually have experienced. It's easier to be accurate that way. XD

Oh yes, just one more thing: Would anyone like to be a beta-reader? It'd be really nice to have someone I can run ideas by to make sure everything is going smoothly. (And also check for typos...) So, if anyone is willing to, please tell me. Thank you very much! Until next time!


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Okay, I'm assuming I don't have to post this for every chapter, so I'll just post this: this disclaimer, unless something changes and I actually _do _acquire ownership to the rights, is applicable for all future chapters of this story. There. Oh yeah, and the disclaimer is that I don't own the rights to Rockman or Megaman ZX, Capcom does; I don't own the rights to Gundam Wing, someone else does; and I don't own the rights to Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix does, even though that has nothing to do with this story. Which will not be delayed in being put down any longer, although you probably skimmed all I just wrote. I don't mind, though. -smile-

(Oh yeah, this one's kinda violent too… just warning ya.)

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Five

Aile's eyes opened slowly to see Muguet, Rose, and Carrelet standing nearby. Her face contorted slightly in confusion. Why were they in her room? It took a second for Aile to realize she wasn't in her room, and one more for her to remember what had happened before she fell unconscious. She didn't feel like she had before, but still…

"What had happened?" Aile asked, refraining herself from shooting into a sitting position, knowing from experience Muguet's reaction to patients doing things they weren't supposed to, and she would rather not experience that again. "What happened to me?"

"It's nothing serious… you were just exhausted." Rose said quietly.

"Exhausted?" Aile couldn't help but laugh. "I had just slept more then I have in any one night for more then a year, and I'm exhausted? I don't quite see how that works…"

"You might have rested," Muguet countered, "but you had been on-duty without a break for two weeks before. And you've been fighting harder than you're used to for the past several years in two days. Not to mention your… reaction to finding out about the Model Ws."

Aile let out a quite unladylike snort. "'Reaction' is a bit of an understatement, don't you think?"

Muguet smiled wryly. "Perhaps."

"Well, I guess I'll be leaving now." Aile said, and bounded out of bed now that she knew it was nothing serious.

"Fine… but you're not allowed to fight for at least four days."

Aile stiffened, and whirled around to face the medic. "What do you mean, four days?!" she practically yelled at Muguet. She wasn't that scared of the medic, and her emotions had gotten the better of her once more.

"I meant what I said," Muguet said evenly. "You haven't had a break for a while now, and you've only fallen asleep due to exhaustion today, and mostly likely the last time as well. Driving yourself to the breaking point will not do anyone any good, least of all you."

Aile just scowled in response.

Carrelet gave a half-smile as he approached the girl from behind and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Aile. We can handle things for a few days. If you haven't forgotten, this is the Guardian base, not the Chosen One base. You're not alone in this fight, Aile, we're all with you."

"And what about Model W?" Aile questioned, whipping her head around to face her friend, with a look of what could almost be called pain on her face. "You can't fight a Model W, none of you. If you didn't you'd be throwing your life away. Even if the entire Guardians forces went up against one W-roid it would be pointless. So… you're wrong, Carrelet. I _am_ alone in this fight." Aile head lowered, facing forwards once more. "Completely alone…"

"Aile…" Carrelet's voice dwindled off, both shocked and slightly hurt from Aile's words. "I…" the Guardian stopped himself. He wanted to speak words of comfort to her, but what would that accomplish? She was right. There was no one else like her, not since Giro died. She _was _the only one with the power she had, and the only one with even an inkling of a chance against the _real _dangers. There were no words he could give her.

Muguet and Rose stayed quiet through all of this, and eventually Aile responded.

"I'll do as you say, Muguet. I won't fight for four days. As soon as that time's up, I'll be attacking the next Model W, and I mean _as soon _as it's up."

Aile quickly blocked out all possible replies as she stalked out of the room. She walked up to the lift, realizing as she impatiently waited for it to ascend to the top of the ship that the Biometals weren't with her… either that or they knew to leave her alone for the moment. Either way, Aile was both glad and saddened by this fact. She was glad to have some rare time that she was truly by herself, and discouraged at the fact that she was truly alone, like she had said she was.

As soon as the lift reached the top, Aile exited the interior to stand on the deck. She leaned over the railing, standing tall as the wind whipped her hair around her pensive face. It wasn't true, she realized. She wasn't alone, she wasn't the only one to bear this horrible burden.

There was Shinigami.

He might not accept the burden of protecting the world, and he might start fighting against her again, but he was a Mega Man as well. He was the only living person who might truly be able to relate to the burden and responsibility of being a Chosen One. He might only be one… but she wasn't alone anymore.

It was that simple fact that got her smiling again.

* * *

Shinigami walked back to the clearing he had dubbed his "home" and flopped down on the grass. For a while he just laid there on his back, staring up at the clouds lost in thought. He wasn't sure what to do now. Once he had found Forte, he thought he knew exactly what he'd do next. He felt almost invincible merged with the Biometal, and it seemed like it would be no sweat to wipe out all the Mavericks. Once he did that… well, he could figure out his next move when it was time for that.

But now things were more complicated. Now there were objects, apparently Biometals like Forte, that were somehow generating the Mavericks. He'd have to defeat those first, but how? After his defeat today, he was starting to doubt his own strength. True, the "W-roid" had been defeated, but only with the help of the mysterious girl he had fought before. Even with her help, which Shin had been loath to accept, they were almost defeated. Shinigami winced as, while shifting his position, he bumped a bruise he had acquired in the previous fight. He had various cuts as well over his body, and a few more bruises as well. He usually ignored minor injuries, but this… well, he'd just have to stop by the town the next day to buy some supplies to take care of them.

_I wonder how that girl fared, anyway… _Shin wondered idly. He really knew next to nothing about this girl, except that she had a Biometal as well, and had a sense of honor or something. Anyway, she seemed to care about protecting people. That didn't rest well with Shin. Not that he had anything against protecting someone, he had just lived so long on his own he had gained the mindset to focus more on defeating the evil, not shielding those wounded by the evil. Having that as the focus seemed stupid to Shin. What was the use of try to protect? That just made you feel worthless every time you fail to protect one of them, and there are so many. Setting your heart on shielding just made you vulnerable; once one single person dies, you either have to fall into despair and subconsciously surrender, or erase your emotions and fight on despite and heartache. Shin didn't like either of those two options. He didn't want to stop feeling, now that he had regained the ability, those years since Heero and Hilde died were empty and pointless. But he would never, _ever_, allow pain, physically or emotionally, to stop him from obliterating the Mavericks. That was why his goal was to defeat the Mavericks, not save people. He could not shield both himself and the people, and if he chose to protect them, how could he destroy the Mavericks? That was why he chose hate and revenge as his motivations. And, if a few innocents died from Mavericks… well, if he didn't get close to them, that would only spur him on, one more mark against the Mavericks. That may seem cold, but Shin's heart had been wounded so much if it received one more blow he felt it would shatter beyond any hope of reparation.

Well, it wouldn't matter his motivation if he was too weak to make a difference. He needed to become stronger… but how? He hadn't been focused on improving anything in his life ever since the massacre of the A4 colony.

"Hey, Forte," Shin hoped the previously robot would have some ideas, "what did you do if you needed to gain more power?"

'Bug Wily until he agreed to give me an upgrade, why?' Forte replied quickly.

"Oh… that wouldn't work then."

'You think you need to get stronger?'

Shin nodded.

'Why? Because of the fight earlier today?'

"Yeah."

'I'm pretty sure strength isn't the problem.'

"Huh?" Shin blinked, turning to face the Biometal out of habit, though it wouldn't really help much. "What do you mean? We would have gotten creamed!"

'Yes… but not because of a lack of strength.'

Forte hoped the kid would figure things out, but he just looked confused.

'Look kid, we have plenty of power. We were able to deal out a lot of damage against that monster… once we were able to hit it. It just took you a while to figure out how to do that, since all the battles you've fought until then was against smaller, more agile enemies. You were still thinking with that mindset. You'll have to think a little quicker, one strategy won't work against all opponents. But that should come with experience, you're just new at this. After a while it'll get easier.'

"Great, that girl was right." Shin groaned.

'Hm?'

"She said something of the same thing back then, remember?"

'I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention, I think I had something else on my mind, like, oh, keeping the two of us alive?'

"Hey, if you know so much, why don't you help me out in fights instead of leaving me to fend for myself?" Shin asked, changing the topic.

Forte tried his best to roll his eyes. 'Because it's fun?' he said teasingly. Shin responded in kind by sticking his tongue out at the piece of metal. 'Seriously, I'm not sure how. When we're merged… well, things fluctuate. Sometimes I can converse with you, but other times I feel like have no control over anything…'

Shin didn't respond for a second. He didn't know Forte felt that way too…

"Fine then," He heard himself respond, but he was still thinking about the mystery of the occurrence that happened occasionally when they merged, "I'll have to get some more experience then. Oh… and I'm going to go into town tomorrow."

'Why?'

"I got hurt, and it's late enough that most stores would be closed once I got to the Innerpeace. I'll go first thing in the morning, then we'll go and find some Mavericks to fight."

'Are you sure? That didn't seem to work out so well today…'

"Hey, I have to get practice, right? And how am I supposed to do that if I have no one to fight? I'll be fine, I just have to make sure I don't die. And believe me, I'm actually good at cheating death."

'Could've surprised me,' Forte mumbled. 'That reminds me, you said you'd tell me your history today.'

"Fine, now seems as good a time as any…" And so Shin started telling Forte the story of his life.

* * *

The next day, Aile was kneeling on the deck of the airbase, arms resting on the low railing, and head resting on the arms in turn. She was bored out of her skull. A few days ago she would have been more then happy to have a day with no responsibilities, but things had changed, and she was barely able to stand waiting here doing nothing. There was also a difference between choosing to take a break and being told to lay low. Even though they seemed exactly the same, one seemed a breath of fresh air, and the other almost stifling.

Aile considered hanging off the railing by her knees for fun, but decided not to considering anyone who saw her would probably freak. It really wasn't dangerous for her, she could Rock On and board the ship using Model H in less then a few seconds. But they _would _freak, Aile knew, and if Prairie or Muguet found out she'd probably be kept from fighting even longer.

She let out a long sigh of frustration and boredom to express her feelings. Suddenly, her head shot up as she thought of an idea.

'Aile?' Model Z asked.

"I have a great idea! I'm going to visit one of the towns!"

'Didn't Muguet say you shouldn't fight for a while?' Model F asked.

"Yeah, she said I couldn't _fight_. I'm just going to visit the town… maybe do some shopping or something… I'll probably just walk around. I won't be doing anything strenuous or dangerous, so they have to say yes!"

'…And if they said "No", you'd just sneak out anyway.' Model H said, with what sounded like a sigh.

Aile gasped in mock surprise. "Me? Disobey a direct order? You must be thinking of someone else, Model H."

'We both know you think that since you're not technically a Guardian, you don't really have to follow all orders.'

"Well, I'm not! I'm just helping them. I'm a transporter for Giro Express."

Model H wisely refrained from answering. The only response he could think of at the moment was that her boss was dead, and she had been the only employee, so there wasn't really a Giro Express anymore, but he knew better than to draw attention to the fact of Giro's death. That was one of the sure-fire ways to make her unhappy.

"I'm sure they'll say yes, so it's a moot point. Let's go!" Aile finished, quite unnecessarily, as the Biometals would follow her wherever she goes, and she headed to ask Prairie for permission.

* * *

Shinigami walked through the town in area C, smiling despite himself. All those people around him, so happy and oblivious, as if they had never known true pain. Every now and then, however, while he was searching for a store with medical supplies, he would see someone different then the others. Oh, they all seemed mostly the same in basic looks, but there would sometimes be an old man, a young woman, a little girl, with a different look in their eyes. As if they had been caught up in something horrible, something no one who had not experienced it could truly empathize with. That made Shin's almost-smile freeze and his face turn grim. They hadn't been through as much as he had, but Shin could tell that they had been caught up in the Mavericks attacks as well. His fight was not his own, but as vengeance for all those hurt because of the Mavericks.

Shin walked up to a store that looked promising; well, more promising than the other stores he had seen. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard an explosion behind him.

Shin quickly whipped his head around, looking over his shoulder. His confused expression soon turned to one of disbelief and horror. A building had exploded, and the townspeople were running away, screaming… from a group of about twenty-five Mavericks.

_This shouldn't be happening! _Shin cried out mentally. Mavericks couldn't attack the Innerpeace, they just couldn't! It would be suicide… the might be able to kill several people, but someone would show up soon enough, and they'd be done for. And how could they just wander in and start attacking? This couldn't be a random attack, someone had to be planning this…!

"Well, it doesn't matter, I'll stop them anyway." Shin thought as he grabbed Forte and yelled, "Rock On!"

Immediately Shinigami realized something was wrong. He could feel his legs pushing against the ground, launching his forwards… his arms forming into cannons… but he felt only half-aware, and completely not in control of them.

_No… not this…_Shin though desperately as even consciousness slipped away from him.

The Mega Man's eyes glowed deep red, and a smirk appeared on his face as he headed straight towards the group of Mavericks.

* * *

Aile dashed out of the door from the Transerver leading from Area B to Area C, continuing the burst of speed to jump down the ladder onto the street below. She vaguely remembered the paranoia that still lingered in the townspeople as she unmerged back into her human form. It had been so long since she had come here. She had rests some times, but frequently she had stayed on the Guardian's airbase when she took a break. She had never been partial to wanderlust, and while one time she loves to explore the world with an almost childish curiosity, this novelty had long faded for her.

_Geez, I sure seem old. _Aile smirked to herself. Still… it was nice. To go out, to maybe even interact with "normal" people. Aile had never blended in, and the different "situations" she'd been in all had one thing in common: making her feel like an outsider. First an orphan, then a transporter, then as a Biometal's chosen one. She never felt comfortable talking with "normal" people, which might seem surprising how comfortable she felt with the Guardians. That was why she always liked the stay on the base, Aile supposed. Because, no matter how everything always was the same, no matter how small the space, all those there could relate to her to some degree.

Still, she _was _hoping to be able to not feel so awkward around other humans, and this was how she'd accomplish that; by being around them more.

The all-too-familiar sound of an explosion echoed through her head as, in the distance but still in the town, a smoke cloud billowed up from a building.

Aile held back a curse as she ran towards the commotion. _Of course, as soon as I show up, there's trouble… _She thought bitterly. Aile wasn't really sure what she'd do; she'd agreed that she wouldn't fight. She decided to go nearby anyway, and take care of the wounded. It was possible it was some sort of accident, (_An accident that blew up a building? Yeah, right._) or that whatever had done this was already taken care of. Aile knew this was almost impossible, but she still hoped. Because, if it was Mavericks, and they were alive… she knew she couldn't let people die, no matter what.

* * *

"Shinigami", or whatever force or madness that was now controlling his body, was running rampant through the main town in the Innerpeace. Currently he was satisfying himself with crushing the wires running through the neck of one of the Mavericks. About seven more Mavericks took this chance to circle the Mega Man and his victim, prepared to fire. He finally took notice of them, and his sadistical grin turned to an expression of annoyance. Suddenly, he smirked, and threw the now almost completely offline Maverick on the ground. He then plunged a hand, surrounded in purple energy, through the chest of the Maverick and into the ground. After a short pause, a wave of purple energy shot out of the ground, circling Shinigami, then spread outwards, obliterating the Mavericks, and leaving no trace of the eight. He dashed off in search of more victims.

Aile came just in time to see his retreating figure turn around a corner of one of the buildings, blind to the occurrences of only a few seconds before.

_Figures he'd be here, _She smirked. She was glad he was there, though, assuming he'd be able to take care of the Mavericks and she wouldn't have to break her word. She decided to follow him, to make sure she wouldn't be needed.

When she turned the corner, however, she gasped in horror. Shin was fighting off a group of Mavericks, but was fighting wildly… and his eyes were red. Aile vaguely remembered that when she helped him the previous day, his eyes had been purple, but the first day they had been red…

Just like the first day…

"No!" She cried out as she remembered how he had possibly killed some townspeople before. She couldn't let that happen here! Aile reached for her Biometals… then remembered she had agreed not to fight. She might bend the rules occasionally, but she would never be made out to be a liar.

_All right, "Death-god", I'll give you a chance to salvage this situation. _Aile gritted her teeth in anger. Then, right after he had ripped apart a Maverick, Aile took in a sharp breath as his head swerved and his gaze targeted on two children cowering in the corner of two buildings.

"Shinigami! Stop this!" Aile cried out in what was most likely a vain attempt to get him to calm down. Because, as strange as it seemed to her, she didn't want to have to fight against him again…

* * *

"_Shinigami! Stop this!"_ A vaguely familiar voice resounded in the boy's head, waking him up. For a moment he felt confused and disoriented, as he felt his limbs move of their own accord…

Suddenly he remembered what was happening. He managed to force his eyes open, to see out in the real world.

…_**In the real world, the berserker's eyes flashed purple-blue for a moment, then went back to red… **_

He grimaced as he saw the carnage around him (_caused by him? No, he couldn't do something like this…_) and recoiled back as he saw himself dashing towards two cornered children. The girl seemed to be only eight or nine years old, and stood protectively in front of a boy who seemed no older then five…

And if he didn't stop himself, they'd both be dead in another few seconds…

_No! _He thought fiercely, pouring all of his willpower into this effort. _I can't… I won't allow myself to hurt them!_

* * *

Aile watched helplessly as the boy advanced, and gripped the Biometals tightly, prepared to go into action if necessary. The older girl flinched away finally, eyes closed as she wrapped her arms around her little brother.

Suddenly, Shinigami froze and relaxed. He blinked his now purple eyes, confused. When the girl dared to open her eyes, and stare wide-eyed at the man who had been about to attack them a second before, he winced and turned his head away from the two of them.

"Shinigami!" Aile called out to him. She wasn't sure what she'd say to him, but it turned out she didn't need to, as, whipping his head around to face her, Shinigami's eyes had widened and he ran off.

Aile let out a sigh. _I… guess I was wrong about him. We aren't that much alike after all… but at least he stopped._

She couldn't trust him, she knew that, not anymore. At least, not until she knew more about him.

Aile decided right then to try to find out more about the boy who called himself "Shinigami".

* * *

Shinigami, in his human form, hung his head in shame as he thought of what happened a few minutes before. But, as he raised his head, he managed to recall whose voice had woken him.

_It was that girl's…_

* * *

Shrouded in shadows, a man had overlooked the performance from a nearby vantage point, watching the place where Aile still stood, motionless. His face was emotionless, then a small smile spread over his features.

"Well, it seems our Mega Men are turning out quite nicely…"

* * *

Authors Notes: Whee! Well, that chapter was longer than most. Oh well, that's not necessarily a bad thing. (And it's only a little more then a page longer, anyway.) Oh yes, a big thank you to Omegaplus who help inspire me to expand the plot! Okay, now my rambling: was Shin's fighting in that one part too violent? I wasn't sure… And their relationship. I'm trying to build up that they're thinking about each other frequently, but not romantically, but they aren't sure what to think of each other. Oh well, confusion can lead to love, I suppose! (They got the song wrong: It's first comes _confusion_, then a crush, and _then _love and marriage and all that good stuff. -smile-) I know that part seemed really cheezy, with Aile calling to him and such, but at the moment I think it was just the voice of another human (or Reploid or Biometal or whatever) calling out to him that woke him up. (Small point: he sure has a depressing veiw on life, doesn't he?) And Shin and Aile's relationship seems kinda weird to me at the moment, somewhat of a cross between Rockman and Forte's and Subaru and Misora's. (Which is interesting, since Aile and Shinigami end up as a pairing, and I don't support either of those I mention paired with each other. Weird… And (I say that too much at the starts of sentences) I added a valuable lesson I learned from reading Mosira vs Luna threads on forums: When you don't know how to respond, change the subject. (Both Shin and Forte are very talented in this. XP) (Oh yes, I haven't spammed (would it be called spam in a situation like this?) in this story how much I love LunaXSubaru have I? Well, I love that pairing. LunaXSubaru forever!! (Sorry, I just really love that pairing. As you can probably tell if you read my other fics or my profile... man, obsessed much?)Anyway, I think that's all! (And it would be very nice of you to review, just to let me know if people like the story or not… Well, people seem to like it and I'm very glad about that, but... Augh! Stop it! You will not become a person who begs for reviews! Stop stop stop! -slaps self on forehead- Okay, there, I'm alright now. -smile-)


	6. Notes and short randomness

Authors notes:

Okay, first of all, an apology. It's been several weeks, and not one update, which is quite a switch from the once-every-Friday thing I was aiming for. (Seriously, though, once a week is a pretty fast update rate, especially if the chapters are four pages long and not written beforehand.) So, sorry. I _do _have an explanation, though. Man, I LOVE "Eternal" by Evanescense. That wasn't the explanation, though.

THIS is the explanation.

First, I had an essay. School trumps Fanfiction, so I had to wait until I was finished writing it… which was of course an hour before it was due. By that time, it was 11 at night, so I went to sleep. The next day computers were being used by someone other than me (I have a big family.) and I couldn't think of exactly how to word the next part. I usually come up with that when I'm trying to fall asleep, but I have no control over inspiration. Usually it's been for Shinigami's Angel, but recently it's been for something else, that I will bring up now.

Anyway, that day me and one of my brothers walked to the video games store, and I noticed this really awesome game I had heard a lot about: Mega Man Star Force. (It was Dragon.) Anyway, it was really (comparatively) cheap, so we bought it. He's the one technically playing it, but needless to say I'm really in more of a Ryuusei mood, and while it's darker than Battle Network in some cases, it's a lot more light-hearted than ZX. Star Force rocks. If you think it doesn't… try playing the games, please. You'll be pleasantly surprised. I was really wary of it at first, but then I saw the anime and got interested, then got the game and loved it. So, for Star Force fans, I have a lot of Ryuusei idea right now: A game-based one-sided TsukasaXLuna, an anime-based TsukasaXLunaXSubaru triangle, several little SubaruXLuna ideas, (I seriously have not had a Ryuusei idea, except for the one-sided TsukasaXLuna one, that does not involve SubaruXLuna. (Ooh, "End of all hope" is playing!) That pairing is awesome!) a HUGE game-based LunaXSubaru fic (well, kinda huge… five chapters! It's huge bacuse it was originally gong to be a one-shot -sweatdrop-) and a Ranma/Ryuusei crossover. (Pairings are RanmaXMisora, RyogaXAkane, TsukasaXUkyo, and- you guessed it!- LunaXSubaru.)

So, I _am _putting this story on temporary hold. I really am sorry, but if I tried writing it now, it wouldn't sound right, and I'm not gonna give you something in the story that isn't the best I can make it. I'm gonna write some of the Ryuusei ideas, then play one of the ZX games to get me back in that mood… most likely ZX Advent. (-sigh- Prometheus's voice… ah, there are only a few boy's voice that make me melt: Prometheus's English voice, Riku's (From KH) English voice, Shuryou's (From the .EXE anime) Japanese voice, Plantman's Japanese voice, and sorta Aeolus' English voice.)

…And so, to make it so I'm not breaking the rules about updating stories, I am going to add a small something I typed out last night that I am almost positive won't end up in the actual story. Hopefully, it will make you think "Boy, she's _waaay _too insane right now to write brooding, angsty stuff."

* * *

"…And this is the Guardian base!" Aile said proudly, leading Shin out of the Transerver room.

"Truite! I AM YOUR FATHER!"

"…Huh? Did you say something?"

"The angry masses demand you dispose of the broccoli leavings!" Muguet cheered.

"Braaaains…" Prometheus called, stalking a seriously freaked-out Rose.

"…Are they always like this?" Shin asked.

"…Sadly, yes. Wait, Prometheus?" Aile did a double take. "Prometheus, what did I tell you? You're a Reploid! You can't eat! So stop trying to eat people's brains!"

"You're no fun…" Prometheus grumbled and stopped following Rose around.

"Sorry, I usually keep him on a leash…" Aile said apologetically.

"If I can't eat people's brains, I'm going to sculpt statues of Albert and slice them into atoms with my scythe." Prometheus declared, and turned to leave.

"NO WAY!" Shin called out, hurrying up to him. "Your scythe can split things into ATOMS?"

As Prometheus and Shinigami got into an animated discussion, Aile just shrugged her shoulders.

"Boys…"


	7. Chapter Six

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Six

Forte was silent, watching Shinigami's face. The boy hadn't spoken since the time in the town, and Forte could tell from the hardness in Shinigami's eyes that he shouldn't try to say anything. Forte had been slightly taken aback from the harshness and intensity currently etched on Shin's face. He had seen the boy look sad, as well as cold, several times before. He had even seen what the boy looked like when he brooded. But… Forte had never seen the boy look _this _harsh before. Even when thinking over deep or confusing things (at least that's what Forte assumed he was thinking about during those times) the boy had looked more pensive than harsh.

"Forte." The boy suddenly spoke, in a low emotionless voice.

'…Yeah?' The Biometal replied hesitantly.

"Do…" The boy suddenly made a small choking noise, and the emotion he had been holding back spilled out, coloring his speech. "…Do you remember what happened earlier in the town?"

'…Yes…'

"Were you in control?" Shinigami snapped, startling Forte slightly. For some reason… the kid was starting to scare him a little.

'…No, I wasn't. I… Shinigami, neither of us were.' Forte said, hoping vainly that his words could calm the boy down. Instead, Shin just lowered his head, his bangs casting shadows over his eyes. Forte had to hold himself back from saying anything. It went against his nature to be this considerate of others… but he had to admit to feeling a small connection to this boy, and he could tell what had happened hit him hard for some reason.

"Forte… I want you to leave."

'WHAT?!' Forte exploded, shocked. Out of any possible words that could have passed Shin's lips, Forte would have to admit he wouldn't have expected those.

'But…' Forte couldn't think of a response to give.

"I… I can't…" Shinigami broke slightly, and wrinkled his nose in concentration and an attempt to hold his tears in. He was only partially successful in this, as a few slowly trickled down his cheek despite his efforts. "I've seen a lot of violence before." He whispered to the Biometal. "I've even had to stand there helpless while Mavericks have brutally killed the people I hold close… but I…" He let out a sigh and held his head in one of his hands. "I'm used to seeing violence… but not being the one doing it! It… it was horrible, seeing all that, and knowing I was the one doing it… I'm not against fighting, but that cruelty…!" Shin shook his head. "I don't want that to happen ever again. And if you leave, I know it won't."

Forte was silent for a while, and Shin didn't say anything in that time either. Forte wanted to scream at the boy, both selfish things and things for Shinigami's good. But- Forte cursed his softness- he felt sorry for Shin. He had no sense of empathy for him, how could he? Wily seemed to try his best to build Forte without any feelings or emotions, and while he failed it still left Forte with the inability to appreciate what Shin was going through. Forte had never felt any qualms about killing anyone, be it an innocent or even one of Forte's own allies. And whether it be through his programming or his actual, true emotions (if they even existed, although Forte would not allow himself to consider that they might not) Forte enjoyed seeing others pain, whether it be emotional or often physical.

However… for some reason, Forte could not imagine ever finding pleasure in Shinigami's pain. Ever since they had met, Forte found something in Shinigami that was different than anyone else he had encountered. (Which wasn't saying that much, since Forte knew very few people.) Maybe there was something that reminded Forte about himself, or the simple fact of the boy's circumstance intrigued him. Either way, Forte felt a connection he didn't understand, or even describe, really. Maybe it was because they were "Biomatches", as that girl had said, and that signified an emotional bond of some sort between the two. Whatever it was, there was one plain fact that Forte could not deny: Shinigami had become his friend. And, even barring the fact Forte would have no body for an indefinite amount in time if Shin sent him away, Forte didn't want to leave the boy.

Still, Forte knew he couldn't stay with Shin if he was told to go. Well, he could, but what would the point be? If Shinigami truly wanted to be alone, Forte would just annoy him for real if he stayed, and Forte didn't want Shin mad at him.

"Are you sure?" Forte said quietly, now sure of what he wanted to say.

"Huh…?" Shin raised his head and blinked wearily at the Biometal.

"Are you sure you want me to leave?" Forte repeated calmly. "You never seem to decisively choose anything. When you make a decision, you're supposed to stick with it, but you always second-guess yourself. You can't keep doing that. The things you are deciding are too important for that! Who are you really fighting for, Shinigami? Are you fighting for yourself, or other people? For revenge or protection? Because I don't think even you know that." Forte paused slightly. He had gotten more passionate than he had started out, but he always felt more comfortable in a confrontation than a discussion anyway.

"I… I thought I knew…" Shin said quietly, hesitatingly. Forte seemed not to hear him and continued with his speech.

"Are you really going to throw away your chance to stop the Mavericks over something like this? What's more important, defeating the Mavericks or not hurting their enemies? I know you don't like decisions, but you need to make this one. Because…" Forte hesitated, then his voice dropped from the almost-yell it has transformed itself into.

"…Because if you tell me to leave, I will— but I won't be coming back."

* * *

Aile walked out of the Transerver room, a blank and solemn look on her face. If anyone looked at her, they would think she was in a daze. But, in truth, she was actually in deep thought, not bothering to be aware of the world around her.

She stumbled slightly as she walked, and hoped she wasn't having a relapse of whatever had happened two days before. She rested her hand on the wall and let it support her weight as she stared ahead of her. Without knowing it, she had started heading towards the control room. She continued to look blankly at the door leading to the bridge of the Guardian Base for a few seconds, then quickly turned around and started walking to the lift.

She heard the sound of a door opening behind her, but she ignored it and continued walking without a pause.

"Wait, Aile!"

Aile stopped walking at this, and turned half-way around to see Prairie running towards her.

The Guardian commander halted her sprint as soon as she came a few feet in front of Aile.

"I saw that the town went under attack! What had happened, Aile? Is everyone okay, and are you okay?" Prairie asked, obviously concerned.

Aile turned her head away from the other girl.

"I did what you asked me to." The brown-haired girl said in a voice that was almost a monotone. "I didn't fight. Don't worry, as far as I could see, all of the townspeople are fine."

Prairie frowned worriedly. "Aile…"

Aile let out a "Tch", then walked swiftly forwards onto the lift, going towards the deck once more.

Prairie blinked as her friend disappeared from view.

* * *

Aile walked out onto the top of the Base. She walked slowly to the front of the ship, and sat down on the floor, leaning against the railing and her legs pulled up to her chest. However, she let her hands rest lightly on the floor.

The girl squinted her eyes to cut down on the glare from the sun. Soon the wind picked up, and her loose hair started tossing along with it. Aile didn't care at the moment, and she didn't even lift up one of her hands to tuck her hair behind her ears.

Aile spent most of her time out here. She always liked it up here; for some reason, it calmed her soul like nothing else she knew could. It gave off the feeling of danger, and loneliness, but also a sense of freedom. As she could barely make out the land beneath her, she felt that she was free to do anything and be anyone that she wanted.

However, she knew that wasn't true. She was bound to follow her destiny, if nothing else.

_The Destiny of a Rock Man…_

Aile had heard that ambiguous statement before. Prometheus and Pandora… those two figures were still a mystery to her. She supposed their words should have warned her that her battle was far from over, but she wasn't sure exactly what they meant… or who the two Reploids were. They had seemed to follow Serpent, but they obviously had some other master… someone else they followed, and they seemed to be the ones using Serpent in the "Game of Destiny" they talked about.

As time went on, and the bitterness faded, Aile actually grew to feel sorry for Serpent. He hadn't been evil, Aile realized, even though he had been responsible for taking everyone from her… it was obvious he had been long gone by that time.

What had Serpent been like before he found Model W? And how did the Biometal cause him to lose his sanity? Could… could that have been the "destiny" the two had talked about, the destiny of all the Rock Men? That the end result of their power was insanity?

Or… did Prometheus know more than she did? Was there some plan she fit into, a pawn in some type of game? But then… who was the player?

Aile sighed. She didn't like the idea that everything she did was being controlled by someone. She wanted to make her own choices… and her own mistakes…

Which brought Aile back to the fact that had been dwelling on her mind from the moment she saw Shinigami during the attack on the town earlier.

"Model X…" She began, deciding that her Biomatch would be the best one to ask in this situation.

'Yes, Aile?' He responded swiftly.

"Did… did I do the right thing earlier? In the town… should I have fought anyway? Everything ended up fine, but if I had acted, I would have been sure of that. But then I'd have gone against Muguet and Prairie…"

'That… _is_ a hard decision to make…' Model X admitted. 'But… if I had been in your position… I would have fought.'

"Yeah. That's what I thought." Aile said, frowning.

'But everything turned out all right in the end…' Model L said in an attempt to cheer her up.

"That still doesn't change the fact I made a mistake." Aile said soberly. "I should have known I should put a higher value on life then following rules…"

'But rules are very important too, Aile.' Model H pointed out. 'You should try to follow them as much as possible, while still doing what you believe is best. Inspecting your actions and motives are worthwhile, but regretting the past does nothing. You are unable to change the choices you made, and no lives were lost as a result of any action or lack of on your part. So there is no point in wishing to go back and make a different decision. You can only take what you learned from this and let it influence your actions in the future.'

* * *

Shinigami and Forte had been waiting in silence for almost half-an-hour, with each leaving the other to their thoughts. Forte was starting to get slightly anxious. Shin had not told him a single thing since their "discussion" earlier, and as a result Forte had no idea whether he should stay or go. Did the human's silence mean he wanted the Biometal to leave, like he had originally proclaimed? Or was he simply still pondering over what he should do? Forte had no clue what he should do now.

"Forte…" The boy spoke, finally. Forte immediately turned his attention to Shinigami.

"I…" The boy seemed hesitant, even though it appeared like he had made up his mind, due to the fact he started speaking. "You can stay for now."

Forte let out a sigh of relief inwardly. He had been hoping for this.

"But… I don't think I'll merge with you, not for a while, and maybe not at all. I… well, I need time to sort out my thoughts, like you said. I need to make a decision that I won't second-guess…"

'Of course.' Forte agreed. That was probably for the best. He knew, if Shinigami came to and made an absolute decision, the boy wouldn't regret whatever choice he made.

Forte just hoped it would include him.

* * *

Four days passed by, without much differentiating them for Aile. She stayed on-board the whole time, and after the first day tried her best to act like everything was normal. She thought she did a pretty good job of it… but there were a few close friends of hers who she knew weren't convinced.

"Hi Paririe!" Aile cheered as she sauntered into the control room. "Four days are up, and you know what that means! Where's the next W-roid?"

Prairie let out a sigh, but decided to overlook Aile's pretenses for the time being. "It's under water, a little less than a mile off the shore. It's only a short distance away. I programmed the destination into the Transerver, so you can leave whenever you—"

"Great! Bye, Prairie!"

"But…" Prairie started as Aile rushed out. Aile had decided not to wait to hear the rest of Prairie's sentence. She had been held back for too long.

_Tie me down if you will, but I'll just fly away as soon as I'm free. I have wings of my own, and I can fly myself, with your help or your disapproval, it doesn't matter to me._

* * *

A man stood, silently, with his head lowered to cast a shade over his eyes. He slowly raised his head, a grim expression displayed on his features. As he faced his sleeping adversary he took his energy weapon and turned it on, a low buzz emitting from the glowing blade.

He had been built, born, and made for one purpose only… and he made it his one goal to defy that dictate.

Even if it cost him his life.

* * *

Authors notes: Very sorry for the long wait until I updated! I tried my best, but I got Writers Block the day after I uploaded my insanity. It's very, very annoying. But, I tried my best despite it, but if this chapter isn't as good as my others, that's probably why. I really wanted to make sure I could post this before the 12th, because I'll be out of town for a little more than a week then. It'll take me a little to upload the next one because of that, but rest assured I will be thinking about it and working out the parts! (Big fight scene next chapter! Yay!) Oh yes, if anyone has any ideas for W-roids, it would be very, _very _appreciated. (I'll also make sure to give you credit.)

Other than that, Shinigami's Angel has broken 1000 hits! Woohoo! (Cupcakes for all… wait, I'm not good at cupcakes… cookies then. But cookies have become so cliché… meh. Cookies!) And favorited four times! Wow… guess this has become kinda popular, huh? It's kinda scary, since now I'm always afraid I'm going to write something and people won't like the story anymore… stupid lack of self-confidence… oh well. I've decided not to put ramblings in my notes, since I assume it's kinda annoying, and I'm going to answer any reviews on the next chapter. So… guess that's all. Bye!


	8. Chapter Seven

Short note: Just to let you know, there has been a minor change to the previous chapter. It's not that big, but if the information in here doesn't match up with that, then that's the reason.

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Seven

Aile emerged from the water, waiting until she was firmly on land before changing out of Model LX form. Whipping her head once to shake the few remaining water droplets from her hair, she turned to face the metal door that no doubt lead to the W-roid.

_Wouldn't it be ironic if Shinigami happened to show up again…?_

Aile smirked slightly, but continued forwards. She thought it was _very _unlikely she'd run into anyone else down here. It was considerably isolated from the rest of the world, and no one would really come here unless they had a clear purpose in doing so.

She wondered vaguely why someone would build a warehouse underwater in the first place. It wasn't exactly easy to get to, and there wouldn't be a point… unless the reason it was built was to keep its contents hidden until a specific time.

The girl smirked once more as she checked her energy before fighting her adversary. If that was the warehouse's purpose, then whoever had made it had failed: Prairie's equipment had found its location just as fast as it found all the others. But, then again, Guardian equipment was state-of-the-art, not to mention an obscure location would do little to keep it hidden from scanning equipment, only people searching on their own.

Aile then started to frown musingly as she walked slowly towards the door. As much as she didn't like to think about it… she needed the Guardians. If it weren't for them… well, she wouldn't be able to do anything, really. Even though she was the one going out herself, she couldn't do anything without their support, both physically and emotionally.

Aile wiped those thoughts from her mind as her hand flitted out to touch the door. Well, even if they helped as far as things went, in the end, she carried the brunt of the load. And right now… it would just be her and her adversary.

Suddenly, the girl's breath caught in her throat as she stared at the interior of the room, her eyes widening. There was the W-roid back there, but… there was another figure, a smaller one, closer to her, facing the evil Mechaniloid.

The smaller figure turned around slowly, looking slightly surprised himself, then his features shifted to his trademark smirk.

Aile took a step back. This changed almost everything…

Things just got a whole lot harder.

There, standing in front of her, was Prometheus.

* * *

"Prometheus." The girl stated calmly, but she slowly drew out her beam saber and ignited it, holding in down at her side. This was bad, very bad! If she had to fight both Prometheus and the W-roid at the same time, Aile wasn't sure she could win. She had improved over time, but Prometheus had nearly beaten her before, she still wasn't sure how she managed to survive his and Pandora's joint attack. And she had no idea of the W-roid's attack patterns, weaknesses, or anything.

The only lights in the room were the two beam weapons, scythe and sword, and the reflection of the water outside, giving it a distinct blue tint. Prometheus had yet to speak to Aile, and the soft humming of the energy weapons could be heard plainly.

Aile blinked as she realized something. The W-roid was not moving or attacking, it seemed like it was unconscious. Was that poor planning, or had she taken the two by surprise? Or… could Prometheus…?

"Aile!" Prometheus called out, slightly startling Aile. "What a pleasant surprise!" Unsurprisingly, his voice was thick with mockery, but it seemed to be like that always from Aile's experience.

"Give me a break, Prometheus!" Aile snapped, too tense for joking with the killer. "Did you come here to ambush me? How did you know I was coming?"

"Actually, I didn't." Prometheus replied, his tone now displaying more amusement than mockery. "This is very convenient, however…"

Aile gripped her sword tighter, crouching down in preparation to attack. Prometheus chuckled, but made no move to prepare for battle.

Aile growled softly. How dare her treat her so casually, as if she wasn't even a threat?

"You better not be underestimating me, Prometheus! I've beaten you twice before, and I can do it again!" It seemed somewhat unlike him, this casual attitude, the Rock Man had always seemed eager for battle.

Prometheus' wild grin turned to a slight frown.

"Don't remind me. And you should keep it down! We don't want him waking up…"

"Who's "we"?" Aile asked, quickly annoyed by how this reminded her of her argument with Shinigami the other day. "And who don't _you _want to wake up?"

Prometheus rolled his eyes. "Who do you think?" Prometheus then, to the surprise of the female Rock Man, he jerked his head back… in the direction of the W-roid. "It's so much easier to kill an enemy in their sleep— I was just about to do that when you came in."

Aile subconsciously relaxed from her attack position as Prometheus' words hit her.

"What… do you mean?" She breathed out the only words she could find. What in the world could be going on? Prometheus was manipulating Serpent before; of course he was working for the one behind the Model Ws, if not the leader himself. But… why would he try to kill one of the W-roids, then? Had he lost control of it, or what? Aile struggled to keep her face from screwing up in confusion.

Prometheus chuckled, then his face turned grim and dangerous. "I want to destroy the W-roids, as many of them as I can before… ah, never mind. That's all you need to know."

Aile straightened up and pinned Prometheus with a glare. Did he think she was that naïve, or forgetful? "That's certainly _not _all I need to know! You were working with Serpent, and he used the Model W. You're at least partly on that side, and you have given me no reason to trust you."

"Very well," Prometheus sighed, and Aile tensed inwardly, assuming he was going to drop this pretense and attack.

"I… I was created by the same man who made the Model Ws. My whole reason for existence is to serve him."

Aile gasped slightly, and took a step back, but Prometheus seemed not to notice, and continued on.

"I don't want to do that. He permitted me a sense of self and free will, fool that his is— or sadistic, maybe. But I refuse to let him control me any longer. I don't care what happens, but I'll destroy everything he's made."

"But… wouldn't that include you?" Aile asked quietly.

"Why would you care?" Prometheus rebutted, giving Aile a dark smirk.

"I…" Her eyes narrowed slightly, whether in pain or anger the scythe-wielding Rock Man could not tell.

"…I don't." She finished, firmly.

"Good." Prometheus smiled, almost genuinely. "Truce, then?"

" 'Truce'?" Aile scoffed. "After what you did?"

Prometheus looked perturbed at this. "It wasn't my fault! I was just doing what Ma- what my master told me too. And if you tell me I should have gone against him earlier, you obviously have no idea how hard it was for me to do this at all."

Aile lowered her head, and sighed softly. "Don't think this changes much, but… not a truce."

Prometheus sighed in response, then saw that Aile had raised her head.

"Not a truce…" She said slowly, as she formed the words in her head. "Not a break from the fighting. I… won't attack you, Prometheus, unless you attack or somehow threaten me or those close to me."

Prometheus' face broke out into a grin. Before he could speak, however, Aile continued.

"Don't expect me to fight along side you, though. I'm not going to go out of my way to help you, but I won't try to stop you either. We'll agree to act as though the other doesn't exist."

"Fine," Prometheus said, the mocking edge back in his voice. "But would you mind helping me destroy this W-roid first?"

"Fine…" Aile said, as the two turned to face their now common enemy.

_Well, _Aile thought vaguely, _this turned out to be _easier _than I expected, not harder… _

The girl didn't feel very comfortable attacking an unconscious enemy, but she had to admit, even though it didn't sit well with her sense of justice, the W-roid was too dangerous to allow any liberties to.

However, Aile's dilemma was soon forcibly resolved, as the W-roid woke up.

* * *

Prometheus snarled.

"We waited too long! I had hoped to finish this quickly…"

Aile's eyes narrowed at the boy. There was something in the tone of his voice that seemed to imply he thought this was all her fault.

The W-roid reared up on its slender body, then dodged into a hole in the wall Aile hadn't noticed before then.

"He really likes running and projectile attacks," Prometheus informed Aile, so as to not leave her in the dark, "and his physical attacks are few and precise. I really wanted to not have to fight him…"

"Just drop it," Aile growled quietly, as she whipped her head around, ready for the W-roid to attack.

Before Prometheus could respond, two small round capsules shot out of two of the various small holes that Aile was now discovering, to her dismay, were littered around the room.

Prometheus leapt out of the way of the capsule heading for him, while Aile whipped out Model ZX's gun and fired. The small explosion nearly reached the girl, but she jumped back a foot. The capsule that was headed towards Prometheus opened as it hit the back wall, and sent out a few Icicle-shaped projectiles, crackling with what looked suspiciously like electricity. One of these sliced past Prometheus' shoulder, and he winced in pain.

"Well, at least it has a good weakness." Prometheus chuckled as he re-ignited his scythe, ignoring the sizzling scratch on his right shoulder.

"…What?" Aile finally asked, slightly annoyed.

Prometheus turned to her and grinned wildly.

"Fire."

With those words, he jammed his scythe into the ground, sending up twin pillars of fire from the ground. Aile cried out in surprise, managing to avoid the elemental attack at the last moment. The W-roid was not so fortunate, as it had dodged out of one of the larger holes, heading straight for Prometheus, which it has deemed the weaker of the two.

The Mechaniloid monster let out a roar of pain, hurrying back into the walls of the room.

Aile stared at Prometheus in surprise. Had he let himself get hit in order to lure the enemy out? That couldn't be… he never seemed to like using strategy before, why start now…?

The superior smirk he flashed at her assured her of her suspicions. Glaring at him, Aile switched to Model FX form.

Whipping out her twin busters, she fired rapidly at any of the projectiles that got near her. Prometheus as well was destroying anything that got within range of his scythe.

Aile growled as she leapt over a new type of larger capsule, slamming her left-hand buster into it as she twisted to land feet first on the ground. Grudgingly, she had to agree with Prometheus, this type of enemy annoyed the girl greatly. It would stay back until it saw the opportune time to attack, which was usually when she was distracted with dodging it's attacks from while it was hidden… and there was nothing Aile could do to stop it, unless she allowed herself to be made a target like Prometheus had.

Or… was there?

A whip-like sound came from behind the girl, and she whirled around just in time to see the W-roid charge towards her from a hole she had been facing directly away from.

Biting back a curse, Aile did the only thing she could with so little time- she raised her right arm cannon, firing rapidly. These blasts hit the serpentine creature in its head, but it continued in its dash.

Aile couldn't even brace herself before the W-roid had crashed into her, flinging her backwards into a wall before disappearing into a hole in the wall once more. Her body smacked the stone hard, and she cried out involuntarily as she slumped down. A few new pebbles fell onto Aile, and she raised her head to see the impression of Model FX's shoulders now engraved in the wall. She let out a sigh, then struggled back to her feet. It was only thanks to F's armor that she hadn't been pushed partway through the wall herself.

She sighed tiredly as she destroyed the three projectiles headed towards her in rapid succession. There had to be _some _way to keep the W-roid from disappearing into the holes!

Aile's eyes turned to the new impression in the wall, and a thought came to her. It might not work… and, since she had never tried it before, it was likely not to, but she decided it was worth a try.

Wall jumping up a wall close to one of the five holes, Aile started to put her plan into effect.

* * *

Prometheus moved around swiftly, his scythe whirling in his hands as he sliced up any projectiles nearby.

He couldn't afford to have this fight go on much longer, if he didn't get rid of the W-roid soon…

Without warning, he dropped he scythe and stumbled a bit, although there had been no attack. Swearing, he glanced at Aile, hoping she had not seen, but the girl seemed too busy jumping up the wall to notice.

Less than a second later, something hit Prometheus hard, and he was knocked completely onto his face, raising it as soon as he could to see the W-roid disappear back into it's hole.

Ignoring his pain for a moment, the boy looked down at a minute time inside his wrist guards, then winced.

_2045 seconds… not good._

A sudden, loud cracking sound quickly drew his attention, and he whirled his head over his shoulder to see Aile leap off the wall in front of one of the holes, while a large section of the wall crumbled, blocking the hole.

Prometheus frowned in confusion. What good would blocking off the holes do? The W-roid couldn't starve or anything if he was trapped inside, and he would eventually…

Then it clicked in Prometheus's mind what Aile was trying to do. She wasn't trying to trap it _in _the walls… she was trying to trap it _out_!

Prometheus jumped up one wall, and leapt at the opposite one, quickly slicing his scythe four times, knocking a thin layer of stone down. By this time, Aile had destroyed one more of the holes.

Prometheus bit his lip softly. They would have to lure the W-roid out and destroy both holes before it went back… and he was the only one he trusted enough to be both the lure and destroy a hole.

He dropped to one knee, pretending to be hurt. Sure enough, the W-roid soon shot out at him, Aile destroying the hole he came from a second after he passed it. Leaping up with all his strength, Prometheus swung his scythe with both precision and speed. The falling stones covered the wall's opening less than a second before the W-roid would have entered.

Its head banged against the rock, then turned around and reared up, hissing.

Prometheus spun his scythe around and pointed it at the W-roid.

Now, the fun began.

* * *

Aile quickly started charging up her busters, running slightly at the same time to discourage the W-roid from darting out at her. Prometheus had no such problem, apparently, almost daring the Mechaniliod to attack- a challenge that was readily accepted.

Instead of dashing forwards like Prometheus had expected, the W-roid whipped its tail around, sending out Icicle-like projectiles like the ones from before. Prometheus ducked to the floor and rolled, the icy attack whizzing inches over his head.

Before the W-roid could attack the distracted boy again, it was struck in the back with a thick stream of fire. Roaring in pain, it whirled around to find Aile smirking, buster cocked in the air with a thin stream of smoke trailing from it.

The W-roid's icy eyes flared, and rushed in reckless anger at the girl. Before it reached her, Prometheus let out his fire attack once more, wracking its body with the flames.

Letting out a noise almost like a screech for a moment, it slumped down almost to the floor in pain. Both seeing this as a great opportunity, Aile and Prometheus unleashed their strong fire attacks, unintentionally on unison.

As the W-roid let out a final screech of pain, the two ran to the far end of the room, away from the W-roid, and watched as it exploded in a brilliant flash of light.

* * *

"So." Aile said, turning to face Prometheus. Neither of them spoke, and awkward silence spread over the now peaceful room.

"Fine. Maybe our paths will cross again, but I hope not." The girl quipped, then spun around and walked towards the exit.

"Before you leave, I have a favor to ask of you." Prometheus asked. Aile turned to face him slowly.

"What is it?"

"Could you attack me?"

Aile blinked. "Why in the world would you—"

"Look, I have to make it seem as though I fought against you alongside the W-roid, or my master might suspect something. I don't have time to explain, just hurry up." Prometheus explained impatiently- or anxiously.

Aile took a step back.

"Why…?"

"I told you, I don't have time! Please, Aile, I need you to." His tone was slightly pleading. "Just a few light wounds to make it look like a struggle. I don't know what would happen if my master found out…"

Aile paused, eyes widening slightly. Then, she sighed and transformed to Model PX.

"I-If you're really sure…"

Prometheus nodded, and almost smiled.

"Thank you."

Aile winced slightly, then grabbed a handful of kunai and flung them at Prometheus. The boy quickly jumped to the side, only two of the five kunai nicking him.

Aile raised her eyebrows. "You're not making this very easy for me."

Prometheus chuckled. "Sorry, force of habit."

Aile threw out the kunai once more, this time they all hit Prometheus, three of them piercing his chest. He involuntarily gasped in pain and took a step back. Aile gasped in shock and rushed to him.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you."

Prometheus laughed slightly. "I asked you to. I think this'll be fine, I look significantly beaten up now, don't you think?" Not waiting for a response, he transported out of the room.

Aile sighed as she searched for a Transerver she could use to transport out herself. What had that been about? And… who _was _Prometheus' master, anyway?

* * *

Authors notes: I'm 16 today! Yippee! Anyway, very sorry for the long wait. The next chapter should be up pretty soon, since I have a pretty good idea of what to write (and part of it's written already), so I hope that somewhat atones. However, I'm going to be gone for a few weeks the end of next week, and I'm not sure if I can finish chapter 8 before then, so sorry if I can't. Oh yes, sorry if this fight scene wasn't as good as my others, it's just I have used Model FX almost never so I actually had to look up what it's attacks were. -sweatdrop- Anyway, there have been more than 1500 hits, and this has a total of eight favorites and six alerts. I'm not sure, but I think you guys were trying to send me a message or something… (Like: We like this, okay? So start writing! Or something like that.)

**To Niilan: **-sticks out tongue- Yeah, I know. Glad you liked it anyway. And… d'ya know who the dude is now? -grins-

**To Ri2:** Yes, me too. (-sweatdrop-) Glad you liked this chapter… at least, I think you liked it…

**To Forcemaster24:** Hi! Um… did I forget to cover something when I PMed you? Can't think of anything… Probably shouldn't do that if I respond on here… anyway, I'm very happy I motivated you. (Are you gonna post the _next_ chapter soon, perchance? -please do!-) Yes, poor Shinigami-kun… he wasn't in this chapter at all, I just realized. The next chapter will focus on him, though. Him, and also Prometheus. Angst will abound.

Oh yes, and if any of my readers also like the Battle Network/Star Force Mega Man subseries, read his "Time stops for no man" fic. It is completely awesome and deserves many more reviews. Even if I was much pickier with my favorites, and only had thirty or so, it would definitely be included. So, please read and review it… please?

**To Shaded Twilight: **I'm so happy you like my story! Hope it didn't take too long for me to write/upload this. And… it's okay for me to ramble? YAY! Thank you!

Anyway, hope everyone liked this chapter!


	9. Chapter Eight

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Eight

Shinigami lay on his back, staring up at the sky moodily. Forte was right- he needed to make a decision. He had been avoiding it for the past five days, and although he gave the excuse that he was "thinking", both he and the Biometal knew he was still trying to avoid the issue.

Shinigami had no idea what he was fighting for. He knew he wanted revenge, but the more Shinigami thought about it, the more complicated it seemed. And why did he need to know the specifics of his own motivations anyway? At this point, all he really wanted was to go out and destroy Mavericks.

His mouth twitched into a smirk, the first break in his stony expression even since he had lain down. As fun as senseless killing was, he knew he couldn't use that as his motivation. (Even though he was sure Forte could— and probably had.)

Although he didn't like to think about it, Shin knew why it mattered— the innocents. Those who could get hurt by him, or those who might get caught in the crossfire in his battle with the Mavericks. He wouldn't be able to stop himself from going crazy like before— he could try, but not win. He came realize how weak he truly was in the town; he had been utterly helpless to regain control. Not only that, but he wasn't able to force himself to be the least bit aware of what he was doing… not until that girl called out to him anyway. He… acting like that… it disgusted and horrified him. He was acting just like those he had sworn to destroy. He even felt slightly sick, which he hadn't for a long time. He had gotten used to blood and violence, but not his own corruption.

He knew Forte wasn't evil, he could get carried away sometimes, and was certainly battle-hungry and boastful, but not evil. And Shinigami wasn't evil himself… was he? He had allowed himself to do terrible things for revenge, and he had attempted to wipe away all feelings and emotions. He hadn't quite succeeded at that— he always had been emotional— but he had tried, and succeeded for a while… until Forte came. The hope for retribution the Biometal's presence gave him allowed his old emotions to resurface; giving the boy mixed feelings. He wished he could be whole again, but the pain had been so much, he never wanted to go through that again, which was why he tried so hard not to. No, he could never be human again; it was too risky.

But, despite that, he knew he could not bear it if his actions caused that to happen to another person. He was willing to do almost anything for revenge, but not… not that. Not forcing another person to be like him.

Could he allow that to happen again in his quest for vengeance? Or, on the other hand, could he let his fear of that end keep him from his revenge? He knew his goal was important, but… he couldn't let himself hurt people who had done nothing wrong. He felt sorry for them, and remembered he had been like them once, very, very long ago…

Maybe he was still more human than he had thought.

Well, of course. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be so conflicted over this. But he was, and that was it. He couldn't just choose revenge blindly anymore, he had to make a definite decision one way or another.

Shin's eyes opened suddenly. His mind was made up. He wasn't entirely sure if it was the correct path he was about to head on, but he knew he'd have to set out on whichever he chose now. He knew he could not turn back, but he also knew he could not stay at this crossroads any longer.

The boy pulled himself to a sitting position, and opened his mouth to speak, when he was interrupted.

'Shinigami!' The Biometal called his name frantically. The boy's head shot up. Nothing in front of him… He started to turn to see behind him, but stopped suddenly as his temple pressed against something hard and metal. His body and mind frozen, he knew what it was before he saw it— a plasma gun.

A Maverick.

The weapon still pressed against his head, Shinigami shifted slightly in order to assess the threat. There were two Mavericks beside the immediate threat, although they stood a short ways back. Shinigami cursed his luck— it looked like this was just a wandering group of Mavericks who just happened upon his position.

The first Maverick seemed to notice his movement, and the whine of the gun being charged buzzed in Shinigami's ears. Despite himself, the boy flinched. It looked like this would be the end of him…

A second before the Maverick would have fired, a familiar surge of power rushed through Shinigami's body as Forte merged with him. In any other situation, Shin would have gotten mad for not asking his permission.

Right now, however, he couldn't be happier.

The Biometal was in control, and Shinigami watched as the Maverick with a gun to his head was riddled with holes, the two others falling shortly after. It was nothing like the insanity— Shinigami knew he could take control whenever he wanted, he was simply content with Forte holding the reins at the moment. Besides, the two held a common goal.

The Biometal allowed himself a short chuckle before unmerging with Shinigami. The boy exchanged glances with the Biometal, silently portraying his thanks and forgiveness.

'Heh,' Forte chuckled, 'what would you do without me?'

Shinigami laughed as well, and rested against a tree trunk.

'Have you made your decision?'

A smirk played on Shinigami's lips. He was not at a crossroads, he had already started down his path at the deaths of his parents, a path he continued on with each wrong the Mavericks dealt him; the path of an avenger. Whether he willed it or not, his destiny was written in blood.

And who was he try and defy his fate?

"Let's do some Maverick hunting!"

* * *

Prometheus half-walked, half-hobbled into the room, various cuts and bruises all over his body, seeming to be having a hard time breathing… and was trying his very hardest to keep a triumphant grin off his face. The impression of having been beaten to a pulp was made a lot easier by the small wounds Aile had oh-so-obligingly bestowed on him, and the fact he had… oh, about six minutes left to live.

Prometheus was used to the feeling, he had gotten in the habit of purposely waiting until he absolutely could not wait any longer to be repaired. Some small way of spiting Albert, he supposed, all the rebellion he was able to achieve was to his own detriment, but it made him feel better. Like he had _some _control over his own actions, however small. Maybe that was why he hadn't feared his inevitable death for a long time. Then, if only then, he'd be free from Albert's grasp…

Shaking off that slightly morbid thought, Prometheus was pleased with the occurrences of the last few hours. Not only did he now have an acceptable excuse for the disappearance of a Model W while he was in the area to give to Albert, but he also had… well, he wouldn't call her an _ally_, per se, but he was fairly confident Aile wouldn't try to interfere with his plans. He definitely hadn't told her _all _his plans though; that would have just been stupid. She'd probably do that whole "hero of the world" bit and try to stop him. He just hoped that the girl wouldn't tell those Guardians about their encounter. That would leads to loads of trouble, Prometheus was sure of that fact, and way too much attention drawn to him. And then Albert would start paying more attention to him, and his whole plan- his and _Pandora's_, he reminded himself, the boy sometimes overlooked the fact his sister longed for revenge perhaps as much as he did- they had been preparing for centuries would fall into pieces.

Prometheus headed towards the capsule standing upright in the center of the room. Just as he was about the touch the small pad on the side to open the capsule's transparent door, the large viewscreen on the opposite wall flickered to life instantly. The face of "Master" Albert filled the wall.

Prometheus wasn't too happy about the call, but he had been expecting it. He would've hoped Albert would have at least waited until Prometheus had his life restored, but that was Albert for you. The siblings learned early on the man liked toying with his creation's lives, and they also soon learned how to deal with it. Prometheus just hoped to get it over with quickly so he could get in his capsule soon… as much as he hated the thought of it.

Glancing down somewhat anxiously at his life-counter on his wrist- _276 seconds… not good_- Prometheus turned to face Master Albert.

"Hello, Master Albert…" Prometheus tried to keep the sarcasm from his voice and a scowl from his face as he regarded the blue-haired man, "What is it?"

"I was wondering why a Model W signature suddenly vanished… and while you were in the area."

Of course, Prometheus knew this was what the man had been calling about. "Well, as you can see, I got my butt kicked by that Aile girl, the one you so wisely gave the ability to Megamerge to, once again. She _has _gotten in the habit of breaking your Model Ws, you remember." This time Prometheus allowed the sarcasm to color his tone.

Albert's nearly emotionless face- one of the facts about that face Prometheus despised the most- was touched with slight anger. "You should have been able to hold her off."

"Hey, she's beaten me twice before! Once even with Pandora fighting at the same time! Besides, she's gotten stronger over the past four years… and she did beat Model W's chosen one a while ago…"

"Sometimes I wonder why I picked that insane fool as a Chosen one."

"Funny, I thought he only went insane after he found Model W…" Prometheus quipped, then added under his breath, "Maybe he reminded you of yourself."

From the flat-out glare he was receiving, Prometheus figured Albert had heard his comment. Unable to hold back a slight wince, Prometheus looked at his timer as an excuse to tear his eyes from Albert's. He winced once more.

_119…118…_

"Er, Master Albert, I'll have to finish this later…" Prometheus' eyes wandered to his capsule. "We'll have to wait until I wake up, okay?" Prometheus said hurriedly, not caring how pretentious he might be sounding. He might not be afraid of death, but he wanted to delay it as long as possible. He rested his hand on the scanner that would allow him entry to his pod… but it remained closed.

Prometheus started panicking inwardly, but only blinked on the outside; not out of any form of pride, but because he couldn't find the strength to panic. He then remembered Albert was able to refuse him access to his capsule.

The boy pounded on the door of the capsule in a frantic attempt to open it. He… he couldn't… Albert wouldn't refuse to let him get healed, would he? Prometheus was unsure of what to do, Albert had never done anything like this before… and time was running out. If he didn't get into that capsule soon, whatever it was that made him would be destroyed, unable to be repaired. He glanced quickly at where his sister lay in her capsule, unconscious of the occurrences outside. Now, Prometheus started to wonder whether he'd be there when she woke up.

"A… Master Albert, please… don't…" Prometheus slumped to the floor, unable to keep standing up. He curled up on his side slightly as he felt his strength ebb away. His head started pounding, and he squinted his eyes in an attempt to keep his vision focused. He glanced over his shoulder at the monitor, and his eyes widened once more, in horror at what he saw.

There was Master Albert, looking straight at him, his face blank, looking for all the world that he didn't care one bit whether Prometheus lived or died.

"N-no… Master Albert…" Prometheus gasped out, as his wavering gaze turned towards the counter on his wrist.

_29… 28…_

He had never, ever waited this long to enter his capsule. It was far too dangerous…

Finally, when the counter was in the teens, the capsule doors swung open. Prometheus' head shot up, and he quickly gathered his strength to leap into the capsule. He sighed in a relief he would have sworn he'd never feel as he felt the wires connect to him and refill his life's energy.

"That was a warning," Prometheus heard Albert speak to him, and it was then he noticed the automatic shutdown had not initiated. "Not to go against me. I am more than able to kill you, and if you disobey, I will look with pleasure at your broken form as you plead for mercy. I have… and always will have… complete control of you."

Before Prometheus could reply, or even think about the words Albert had just said, he slipped into unconsciousness.

The words, however, followed.

* * *

Author's notes: Gyah! Must kill Albert… okay, it was technically me who made him do that, but I can really picture Albert doing that… hope I'm not the only person. I've always pictured Albert acting like that. (And, actually, I wrote this part while I was working on chapter two… and had thought of it a long time before that. -sweatdrop- (also, I wrote this before I read any Bakura-hurting-Ryou fics, I only realized the resemblance recently -sweatdrop-))

Sorry for this taking so long!! (Usually I wouldn't use that many exclamation points, but I need to stress how incredibly sorry I was…) I do have a good excuse, though- I fell off a swing (I scraped up both knees badly, and a scrape on my arm that still didn't have skin covering it even after ten days), got a slight concussion so I was unable to think of anything to write, had my period, and two migraines, over the course of ten days. And, on that Saturday, I found out a girl I knew died of cancer. So yeah, kinda had a hard time for a while. -sweatdrop- This one wasn't too long, but the next two are going to, unless plans change, be extra long, so yay!

Oh yeah… over both 30 reviews and 2000 hits! Yaysers! (Yes, I actually say that… -.-")

By the way, I have a poll on my profile for which series I should write more one-shots for. Yelling at me to continue my on-going stories (which would mostly be this, but the other is a Giro-centric fic… gotta get working on that sometime, only have three chapters planned to write unless people want me to continue it… and yet I haven't written any but the first one…) is an option, so if all you want to do is that, then by all means, do so. -sweatdrop-

And, if the fight seemed a little weird… blame excessive doses of Yu-Gi-Oh! and DNAngel manga. -sweatdrop-

Anyway… (Coffee is awesome! Especially with chocolate! -cough- Nevermind…) on to responding to reviews!

**Forcemaster24: **Oh well, even though you didn't, I forgive you. Glad you liked it! Yes, Prometheus is the best psycho there ever was, and no, I'm not making a joke, he's seriously the best, probably because he has character depth AND is psycho at the same time. -sweatdrop- And of course I won't kill him! He might get really beat up, but I'd never kill… well, I WAS gonna say I'd never kill my favorite characters, but then I remembered all the Chaud deathfic ideas I've had… (I've had more than just Chaud deathfic ideas, though! I've also planned on killing Protoman and Lan in the same fic, and another one where Chaud, Megaman AND Lan all die and Protoman goes crazy, and… um… nevermind.) -cough- Anyway, Promy-sama will not get killed. (And, I know I said this already, but thanks!)

**Niilan: **…hope that means you like it! -sweatdrop- And yes, he's awesome. I'm hoping to incorporate him a little more, but even if you don't see him much, he's very important to the plot… -grin- (Cut me some slack! (Heh, that's a fun saying.) I wrote some of this at one in the morning! …but I'd probably make those mistakes anyway…)

**MungoJerry:** Well, first off, as Pandora's concerned, she was smart and decided not to tempt fate, and went to her capsule earlier than Prometheus. Also, they do solo missions… sometimes. -.-

Well, personally, I never thought Prometheus was crazy until the final battle with him in Advent. He seemed more arrogant and reckless, and… well, slightly psycho, but he seemed to be able to hide it well. Also, this is how I normally picture him, but here's another explanation: he wanted Aile on his side, at least temporarily. He couldn't act insane, so with the sanity he had left, he acted saner than he really was. (Gee, that was sure confusing, sorry. And yeah, this is before Advent -sweatdrop-)

So, hope that explains my reasoning a little. -sweatdrop- Pretty much any out of characterness there is in this, I recognized and added on purpose, and it'd be explained later… or I might forget to explain it sometimes… -sweatdrop… again- Well, that's good. -smile- And that's _very _good! I'm glad I wrote it somewhat well. And… well, actually, the W-roid was based off the dragon-type boss in Zero 3, 'cause I was feeling kinda uninspired as far as W-roids go. And again, I'm very happy you like it!

**Zero, a.k.a Model Z: **Ooh, really? I always knew they were small, but in the cutscenes they seem to be about the same size as Aile (or Vent's) hand. (I was gonna mention how huge the look in the game itself, but they couldn't really make them much smaller.) But, if you're right, then that's great!

Yeah, that would have worked… but I think Shin's plenty strong already, don't you? -sweatdrop- Yeah, that's the correct term. I've worked hard to keep Shin from turning into a Gary Stu, but there are some things I can't change due to what he's from, like his exceedingly good looks, but I think he has a fair share of weaknesses, flaws, and occasional stupidity.

**zx fan:** Sorry for the confusion. Anyway, in here, there are seven years between ZX and ZX Advent. (I have no idea if that's canonically correct or not, but that's how it is in this story.) This story takes place four years after ZX and three before Advent.

**omegaplus: **Heh, sorry about that. -rubs back of neck self-consciously- Anyway, your idea was awesome! (As always. -grin-) And sorry he didn't get any this chapter, but he will soon, probably chapter ten. Sorry… (I have some good ideas concerning that, and he'll get a bunch at one time, and there's a certain progression… um, sorry. Never mind my rambling. -.-")

**Shaded Twilight:** Wow. Just… wow. Thank you so, so much! And it's no problem, I understand. Thank you for reviewing in the first place! I hope you continue to enjoy the story, even if you can't review. -smile- Anyway, glad you like him. And… again, wow. Your review really, really encouraged me, and I can't thank you enough, and for some reason whenever I have been really touched I can't explain how meaningful it was, but yeah. Thank you once again, and hope you continue to enjoy my story! (And… sorry for the long wait before the update. -.-)

**Anomis:** I'm glad you liked the story. -grin- And I hope you liked this chapter as well.

**ZX-Kid:** Glad you think so. Yup, we're almost past the starting chapters and into the main story. -smile- Wow, really? I'm so happy you like my story so much. And yeah, I think it's a good idea also, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to work it into the story, and… well, if I said much more it'd be a pretty big spoiler, but the two of them working together will be… interesting. Once again, hope you like it!

Wow… that was so long... sorry! (Sorry for the length of the note, not the chapter.)


	10. Chapter Nine

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Nine

The green-eyed girl stared up at the white building looming over her. Most people were automatically struck with awe at the impressive structure of the building that served as Legion's headquarters… but Aile had seen more imposing sights. She sighed, glancing around nervously before entering the building. The building brought back bad memories…

Aile never cared much for government. If she ever found a system that worked, she might be less cynical on that front. But Slither… Slither was the ruling force in her half of the world, while Legion kept things running smoothly for the other half. And Slither had made a royal mess of things. It may have been a sham, and maybe Legion was different… but if they were, why did they just ignore what was happening? If Project Haven had succeeded, the whole world would have crumbled, and Legion would be no more… so why did they just lay back and not even offer any support, if they were as great as they appeared to be? Too many things had happened for Aile to allow herself to trust the government to take care of things. She didn't trust anyone to rule the world besides herself, and she had no wish of such a thing.

Well, she wouldn't try to bring them down or anything… but she wouldn't hand over the protection of the people to them. Only she was suited for such a job.

Aile sighed and rubbed her temple. She didn't come here to mentally rant about her personal paranoia. She came here to find out about a certain boy whose mystery had been taunting her ever since they met. Prairie didn't want them to go so far away, afraid of what would happen if there was an incident but Aile convinced her to let her transport there by herself. The Guardian leader eventually agreed, and here Aile was. Legion had the largest computer database in the entire world, and if Aile could get access to it, she had the best chance of finding something about Shinigami.

Aile was only concerned about being allowed entrance. Almost no-one was allowed to access Legion's database without a important reason, and Aile somehow doubt finding out about one boy for personal curiosity would be considered "important" to the Three Sages. She could always have one of her Guardian friends help her hack into the system, but if Legion found out they were hacked and traced it to the Guardian's airbase, it could tarnish the Guardian's reputation at least, and Aile wasn't willing to put them at risk like that. Although, that concern might be something of a moot point, as the security might be so high even the Guardian's high-tech computers couldn't break through.

The female Mega Man was shaken from her musing by a quiet voice calling for her. That was the reason Aile came here; she was going to talk to the Three Sages, to try and convince them to let her look at their database. Of course, it would first be a video conversation, for security measures, but if all went well, soon she would be heading up to where they actually were, to check their database for information about Shinigami.

Aile entered the small, dark room, and a screen flickered to life on the wall in front of her, displaying the faces of the Three Sages. Aile felt slightly awkward. It was a great honor to be allowed a conversation with the Three Sages, but Aile felt completely fine talking to them… which made her slightly uncomfortable.

"Ah, Aile." A man with a full head (and beard) of red hair said in greeting before Aile could speak. "The great heroine who stopped the insane Serpent and Model W. It is a pleasure to speak with you."

Aile started slightly. "You've heard of me?"

"Who hasn't?" A much older man responded, "Although, it did come as a surprise to find a girl had saved the world… not to mention one barely older than a child."

"Mikhail!" The last Sage scolded, a younger man with blue hair and a serene look. "Looks can be deceiving, you know. And this girl obviously holds great power if she saved the world on her own."

"Well, not on my own," Aile admitted. "I couldn't have done it without the Guardian's help."

"But still, it was you who bore the brunt of the load." The blue-haired man flattered.

"Enough, Albert." The first man interjected. "I'm sure Aile did not come here simply to here us praise her accomplishments." The man turned his attention to the girl. "Greetings, Aile. My name is Thomas. And these are the other two Sages, Albert and Mikhail." The man indicated the men on either side of him. Despite the fact the three worked together, it was obvious Thomas was the unofficial head of the Sages.

"Hello." Aile inclined her head slightly, trying to adopt her best formal tone. It was rather difficult, the only official business she had done before was as a Transporter, and then it was from client to Transporter, not like this. Well, she'd try her best anyway. "I have a request I would like to make."

Aile swallowed noiseless, continuing a second later as no-one spoke, taking the cue to continue. "I would like to request access to your database, to look up a… person I encountered recently."

Albert looked slightly amused.

"I see, an indulgence for the heroine?"

Aile gritted her teeth. She didn't want her request to come off as an indulgence, like they were humoring a child's demand.

"No, it's not like that. I believe he has… some significance in my fight to protect the people of this world, but have no other way of looking up information about him."

"I see. However, we do not grant access to our database lightly." Thomas said. "Could we not look him up for you."

"I… forgive me, sir, but I do not believe that would work. I do not know his name, or anything about him save his face. And I do not think I could explain it to you sufficiently enough so I would not fear I was learning about the wrong person. Please, sirs."

Thomas stared at her with scrutiny. Several tense moments passed, before Thomas nodded.

"Very well. We shall send a key to the elevator through this terminal. You shall find all you desire about this boy."

* * *

The room seemed almost uninhabited, cast into darkness and void of all sound but the low hum of machinery. Inactive computer screens lined the walls, and in the center of the room were two vertical capsules, each large enough to contain a humanoid.

Suddenly the left capsule's door opened with a soft hiss, revealing a Reploid girl wearing white and blue armor.

Soft ruby eyes opened to the darkness. The girl pulled herself slowly out of the container, wires snapping off of her body and falling to the floor. She softly placed a foot on the cold metal, waiting a second to steady herself before continuing on. Getting "repaired" always left her feeling slightly odd.

She reached forwards and grabbed a staff that leaned against a table a short distance away, snagging the weapon and pulling it to her chest, almost embracing it. Her eyes scanned the room, and saw her brother's capsule still closed. After another quick scan, she found his weapon was not in view.

Pandora sighed. Prometheus had taken his scythe in with him again. But he had always been more paranoid than his sister, and more openly defiant. Of course Pandora hated Albert just as much as Prometheus did, but she figured that if he had any idea what they were up to, the two of them would be dead the next second, so she might as well not draw suspicion to herself. She would wait until the right moment before revealing her disloyalty, but at the moment she could find no reason to give Albert the impression she did not trust him.

Pandora frowned. Prometheus had not woken up yet…

The girl walked over to her sibling's capsule and glanced at the small reading on the side. His timer would be restored in 80 seconds…? The girl shook her head. She could tell what must have happened. Her brother always liked to tempt fate a bit too much.

The girl crossed the room and turned on the lights, her optics glad for the relief. She pulled herself up onto the large control panel in front of the monitors and waited for Prometheus to wake, staring at the capsule the whole time.

In a little less than a minute, her brother's capsule hissed opened, and he shot up.

"Albert, you—! Don't you dare mess with my head like that again!" He yelled, startling his sister.

"Prometheus?" The girl asked quietly, softly leaping from her seat to rush to her brother's side.

"Ah, P-Pandora. It's… nothing. Albert just…" Prometheus shuddered. Albert's "warning" had taunted him during his whole regeneration cycle.

Pandora wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulder, keeping him steady until he was fine. He shrugged her off as soon as he could stand fine on his own, but his eyes displayed his gratefulness.

"Hey, there's something I want to show you." The boy grinned, before sauntering over to the computers. Pandora followed him quietly, and at the push of a button the monitors flared to life.

Pandora's brow furrowed in confusion. On a large screen in the center was the picture of a boy in his late teens, with cobalt blue eyes and a dark brown braid. He was also pretty cute, Pandora realized, easily defeating the urge to blush.

"Prometheus, who is this?"

"This," Prometheus smirked slightly. "Is our… _special_ Mega Man."

Pandora blinked.

"I see…" The girl said slowly, "This is the one that new Biometal merged with."

"Yes," Promtheus nodded. "It'll be interesting watching what happens next."

Pandora couldn't help but agree. This was going to be _very _interesting.

* * *

Shinigami flopped down and glared at the sky. Four days had passed since he made his decision, but not much had actually changed for him. Oh sure, he now knew he was going to continue on with his original plan, but what now? He had no doubt he wouldn't stop until he wiped even the memory of the Mavericks from existence, but how would he accomplish that task? All he knew what that the W-roids had something to do with the Maverick, but what good did that do? Was he just supposed to wander around, hoping by sheer luck to stumble upon all the W-roids, destroy them systematically, then all the Mavericks would just go away?

Shin groaned and lifted a hand to his forehead. Things were supposed to be _clear_ once he made his decision…

'What's wrong?' Forte asked suddenly.

"I'm just… not feeling well." Shin mumbled.

'What, you got sick or something?'

"No, I… I'm just annoyed because I have no idea what to do next." The boy admitted.

'Ah. Know the best method I've found for calming down… or cheering up, or fixing anything that's wrong?'

"No, what?" Shin asked distractedly, only half-listening.

'Fighting.'

Shinigami stared at the floating piece of metal

'No, seriously! Fighting makes _everything_ better.' Forte stated confidently.

"Well…" Shin hesitated, then stood up and half-smiled. "Guess it's as good a plan as any right now!"

* * *

Aile slowly stepped out of the lift. It felt slightly surreal. She was in the main control room of Legion Headquarters, about to search through the largest database in the world. The reality of the situation was slowly coming to her. She wasn't used to dealing with things like this. She almost felt like she would be more comfortable on the battlefield.

Almost.

"Thomas, Albert, Mikhail, it's an honor." Aile bowed.

"Please, Aile, we've gone through the introductions before." Mikhail waved her off. "Feel free to search the database for as long as you need."

"Ah, thank you… sirs." Aile added, before scooting over to one of the dozen computer consoles.

Aile sat down at the console, feeling somewhat self-conscious at the fact she was in the physical presence of all three Sages, and she could feel their gazes on her. Brushing off the fact, she stared at the screen, placing her hands on the two slightly worn pads. She scrolled through the thousands of faces as quickly as possible, amazed there were this many people with brown hair and dark blue eyes.

While scanning the screen quickly, her eyes lit upon a certain face. Selecting it for a larger view, she realized this was indeed the boy she was looking for. The picture looked about five years younger, but there was no mistaking it.

She had found Shinigami's file.

She could barely stop her fingers from trembling in excitement. Finally, she'd get some answers. Not all of them, she knew, maybe not many, but some of her questions would be resolved at least.

Aile opened the file and glanced at the document in anticipation. However, as the skimmed the words, the color from her face slowly drained.

_Oh… my…_

* * *

Forte grinned as they ripped through a horde of Maverick of all shapes, glad Shinigami was able to vent. They both held loose control over their actions, ready to stop if the insanity crept in again, but until then, they would fight without hindrances.

Forte knew Shinigami liked fighting. He had name himself after a god of death, after all, and the former robot couldn't believe it was solely out of sulking about his admittedly gruesome fate. No, whether the boy consciously knew it or not, he loved the thrill of battle; crushing those insignificant, fighting against those that might deal him harm, even struggling against a superior opponent— this was what both of them were meant to do, Forte realized somewhat bitterly. Well, neither of them had a choice in the matter, so why not enjoy it?

A jolt ran through Forte's consciousness, hurtling him from his thoughts. Had they been hit? No… nothing seemed to be wrong with Shinigami, and the sensation hadn't gone away. Forte growled softly. What was going on? It felt like... he was being pulled. No that wasn't it... it was like he knew there was something ahead, something…

Similar.

But that was impossible, wasn't it?

Shinigami turned away and dashed forwards after the medium-sized Mechaniloid that rushed past, and Forte pushed the thought away as the sensation slowly faded. It wasn't important right now. He could bring it up later. But, if he was right…

This could turn out to be just the plan Shin was hoping for.

* * *

Author's notes: Augh, so so sorry for the long wait! Anyway, I have plotted out the whole fic now, (30 chapters long!) so that _should_ lead to quicker update rates, but of course it's 11-17 I don't have a very clear idea what happens in. ^^" Oh well, I'll try my best! Oh yes, to let you know, from now on I am going to try my very best to update at least once a month. (Oh yes, and Omegaplus, I couldn't resist— there _is_ gonna be a little PandoraXShinigami in here. I hope you'll like it. ^^)

**Ainrhyr:** Yay! I'm so glad you like it! ^^ And I'm very happy I managed to do that, I was trying to and I'm really glad I succeeded. And yeah, me too, I think she might be might favorite out of all of them, even Giro… unless you count Prometheus as a Chosen One. I kinda like him better. ^^"

**ZX-Kid:** I know, he's so evil! Well, I'm glad you did. Hope you liked this one as well!

**Niilan:** I dunno, sounded kinda suspicious to me… *kidding, kidding* Anyway, glad you do. Yeah, I know! T.T Poor Prometheus… Well, yeah, but if there's a worse bad guy, the bad guy automatically becomes a good guy! Isn't it great? *cough*Marik*cough* Well, hope you liked this one! Sorry there wasn't much detail to Shin's escapade, but there will be more… action-focused fight scenes coming up. ^^"

**Forcemaster24:** Oh, you _know_ there will. Mwahahaha… Oh yes. Really didn't want to have to do this, (well, okay, I did) but you leave me no choice…

A certain red-eyed Reploid sat at his computer, glaring at the screen. There was a certain fanfiction he had really gotten into, but it hadn't been updated in several months, and he was starving for a new chapter.

Prometheus sighed. This was a problem.

And, of course, the best way to solve problems is with violence.

Promethues grinned, grabbed his scythe, and transported out.

-a few minutes and several hundred miles away…-

The Reploid spun his weapon expertly, leaving the blade of the scythe inches from the author's neck.

"Update. Now." Prometheus snarled.

(Hope that was satisfactory. ^^ Now get working! Please?)


	11. Chapter Ten

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Ten

Aile leaned back against the side of the train, lost in thought. What she had found out about Shinigami… it was mind-boggling.

His past was so much like hers. They had both lost those closest to them due to the Mavericks… and then gained the Biometal. It was somewhat ironic, to finally gain their means of protection after their loved ones had perished.

Aile frowned. No, that wasn't exactly true… she had Model X, and Giro had still died…

The girl shook her head. She had to keep reminding herself not to dwell on that…

Back to Shinigami, his record in Legion ended in the massacre of Colony A4. He was thought dead then, along with the rest of the citizens… but he had obviously survived, and gained the Biometal some time after that.

The girl's eyes saddened as she remembered the massacre. The base had been leagues away when it happened, and there had been no TransServers close enough. They had all done the best they could, but by the time they got there, nothing was left but the remains.

Even though the record answered most of her questions, it still left her lacking. There were so many things it couldn't answer, like how he found the Biometal, and what had happened during the years between the massacre and when the two met. Those sorts of questions could only be answered by one person…

Aile sighed. She had obviously misjudged him on their first meeting. True, things had changed between them somewhat, but she had never formally reconciled with him. Now, she really wanted to start things over between them. She had to find Shinigami. Not only to ask his forgiveness, but she was also filled with curiosity about this boy who was so like and unlike herself.

It was settled. Before she went back to Guardians… she would pay Shinigami a visit.

* * *

"So, which direction should we go today, Forte?" Shin asked cheerfully, stretching his arms in a playful manner. "Maybe I'll just spin around and walk in whatever direction I end up pointing…"

'Actually,' Forte piped up. 'I have an idea of what you can do next.'

"Huh? Really? What is it?"

'I… when we were out yesterday, I sensed something.'

"Gee, that's so _interesting_, Forte." Shinigami commented sarcastically. "And what does that have to do with the Mavericks?"

'I wasn't finished! I have a theory.'

"Go on."

Well, the boy's interest seemed slightly piqued, that was a good sign. 'I felt drawn to it… not exactly physically, but like… like a person's eyes being drawn to a certain spot, I suppose.'

Shinigami raised an eyebrow, but made no interruption, so the former robot continued.

'I think there might be other Biometals.'

"I know _tha_—"

'No, other ones like me.'

Shinigami frowned. "What do you mean."

'This feeling, it gave of a sense of… of kinship. Like it was the same as me. I don't know what else it could be… of course, I don't know much more about myself now than you do, but it's the only thing that makes logical sense to me. And no, I didn't have any sense like this around the W-roid or that girl.'

Shinigami was silent for almost a minute. Then…

"Funny, I didn't think you were the type of robot to think things through logically."

A vein pulsed on what would have been Forte's forehead. 'What, did it take you that long to come up with a retort? Be serious, Shinigami. If I'm right, this could help you significantly. As much as I like working with you alone, more Biometal would probably help significantly.'

"And if you're wrong?"

'Then, you've wasted maybe three hours of today. Plenty of time left to pulverize some Mavericks.'

"Hmm." Shinigami picked at some grass while thinking.

"…You're sure you remember where you felt this… 'feeling'?"

Forte gave an inaudible sigh of relief. 'Yes, I'm sure I could find it easily.'

"Well… worth a try, I suppose."

Forte grinned. Of course he was doing this to help his partner, but part of him was simply curious. If he was right… then maybe he'd find someone he knew. Maybe he wouldn't be so alone. Not that he exactly wanted to be around a bunch of the Robot Masters… but it _would_ be nice to know that he wasn't the only robotic Biometal.

* * *

"I thought you said you could find it easily."

'I can! You'll just have to help me!'

Shinigami huffed. They had been searching around the area they had fought the previous day for twenty minutes, and he was getting impatient.

'You have such a short attention span…'

"Like yours is much longer?" Shinigami snapped back.

Forte growled softly. 'Look, just head forwards and left a little. I think it's around there…'

Shinigami pouted for a second, but complied. He glanced, slightly uneasy, at the few remains of Mavericks littered around. Just because they all exploded once they had taken too much damage didn't mean they always did it nice and clean…

'Ah!'

"What! What is it?" the boy asked frantically, slightly startled by the Biometal's outburst.

'It's back! Quick— give me control!'

"I don't know how!"

'Argh! Just go where I tell you, okay?' Forte exclaimed, then muttered, 'Why is it things never work when you want them to…?'

Shinigami rolled his eyes at the comment, but did as the Biometal told him. Slowly they made their way forward, although it was tough going. The 'signal' would sometimes weaken, in which case Forte snapped at Shinigami to go a different way. Shinigami secretly wondered if they were just wandering around aimlessly, and there wasn't really anything— or worse, that it was mobile and someone was doing this to annoy him. Either way, he got more and more irked as time went on.

However, fifteen minutes later, all malice faded as they stumbled into a small clearing.

"Is… that…?"

'Sure looks like it.' Forte agreed, in an equally awed voice.

There was a small, moss-covered rocky building that gave all appearances of being nothing more that some ancient abandoned hovel. However, the door had fallen off (or been taken away), and both Forte and Shinigami could clearly see the inside of the shack.

Inside were clean, shiny metal walls encasing stairs leading down into the earth.

After several moments of staring at the entrance, Shinigami swallowed.

"I… guess we should go in."

'Careful, Shinigami. It could be a trap.'

Shinigami rolled his eyes. "Please, Forte. Do you really think any trap could hold the two of us? Besides, I think the benefits outweigh the risks in this case."

'If you're sure…'

"I am." Shinigami said firmly, slightly confused by Forte's sudden hesitation but not really wanting to press the issue. He was interested here, and was eager to solve this mystery, however small.

'Then… let's go!'

* * *

The boy padded softly down the metal steps. Despite his efforts, every step he took made a sharp clinking noise.

_Oh well… If anyone else is here, they know we're here now anyway…_

They continued their descent, still cautious. Something about this place set Shin on edge slightly… he wasn't exactly sure why, it just seemed a little unsettling.

A short while later, the flawless metal began to break in places, leaving gaps where one could see the myriad of wires running through the walls. Shinigami leaned forwards, and with the dim light he could clearly see the sparks. He quickly drew back and continued downwards, glancing occasionally at the walls.

Eventually, they reached the bottom. Shin glanced around at what was apparently a laboratory. It was obviously abandoned; there were piles of boxes everywhere, and the only source of light came from a solitary bulb on the ceiling that cast most of the room into shadows. However, there was also a lot of equipment everywhere, and underneath the light…

Underneath the light were three glimmering, colorful objects.

Shin's face lit up as he dashed forwards towards the pedestals the objects rested on.

"Looks like you were right, Forte." The boy whispered, as he picked up the closest object.

Biometal. They were all Biometal, and they were apparently his for the taking.

However, Forte was slightly suspicious of the light blue Biometal in Shin's hand. Something about it made his metaphorical blood boil, although he didn't quite know why. He had a feeling, though…

'F…Forte?' A quiet voice came from the blue stone.

The dark Mega Man snarled and threw the Biometal away from him. 'No, not you!'

"Forte, what's wrong?" Shin asked, alarmed, as he dashed forwards and scooped up the other Biometal.

'_That_,' Forte spat venomously, 'is my rival, Megaman.'

* * *

"Huh?" Shin glanced at the object in his hands. "I thought I was Mega Man…"

'You're _a _Mega Man. That's _the _Megaman.' Forte growled.

'Forte? What's wrong? And why am I…?' the blue Biometal asked, slightly shaken.

'You've been turned into a magical piece of scrap metal, that's what, just like I have.' Forte hissed. Shinigami was slightly confused. Why was Forte acting so… brusque?

"What's with you, Forte?"

'I told you, that's my rival. He's the guy who's beaten me every time we've fought.'

'I'm sorry Forte, but I had to! You were—'

'I don't care.' The dark Biometal snarled. 'Let's leave without him, Shin.'

"Come on! We can't just leave him here!" Shinigami protested.

'Yes, we can. Let's go.'

'Wait, what about the others?'

Forte seemed startled by that. 'What others?'

'Blues and Roll, of course.'

Forte snorted. 'Do you seriously think they'd be here too?'

'Well, we were all together when I was turned offline.' Megaman snipped.

"Forte, there are two other Biometal. They're probably those other two robots you told me about.' Shinigami spoke up, feeling distinctly left out… not that he _really_ wanted to get involved with their argument.

'Fine. Then we leave, right?'

"Yes." Shin agreed, deciding not to inform Forte that he planned to take these Biometal with him. No sense upsetting the Biometal before he had to, or when it would be easier to stop Shin from doing so.

The boy set Megaman back on the pedestal, then picked up the red and pink Biometal.

"Hey, you guys awake?" He queried.

'Nggh…' a male voice responded.

'Ah! Is that you, Forte?' a girl's voice exclaimed.

Megaman gasped. 'What happened to Blues and Roll?'

'The same thing that happened to you. We were turned into these things, and the only way we can do anything is by merging with a human. It's really quite annoying.'

Shin raised an eyebrow. "I thought you liked working with me."

'I do, but it's nothing compared to having your own body. For one thing, if that were still the case, I would have walked out of here as soon as we ran into pacifist-man.'

"What's gotten into you, Forte?" Shin frowned.

'I just don't get why we're still here.' Forte grumbled.

"You were the one who suggested this in the first place!" Shinigami cried exasperated.

'Well, I didn't think we'd be finding _them_.' He snapped.

"I'm not going to leave them here, Forte. We can discuss it later, but I personally would be fine with their help. We could always give them to that girl if you guys can't get along."

'Fine.' Forte sighed. 'I only really have a problem with Megaman anyway.'

'Um, what's going on?' the girl asked hesitantly.

"Hi, sorry. My name's Shinigami. And you are?"

'I'm Roll, and these are my brothers Rock and Blues. What's going on? There was this attack and we were put in stasis and—'

'And the next thing you know you woke up with me and Shinigami here and missing a body.' Forte interrupted. 'The same thing happened to me, except I've been awake longer than you have. I've been partnered with Shinigami for about two weeks.'

"You guys are now Biometal, which means, as Forte said, that you can't do anything unless you're merged with a human. If you're willing you help me, you guys can stick with me. Or I could leave you here, but…" Shinigami trailed off, unsure of what would happen to the three if they were left here.

'Well, I'm not too thrilled about having to work with Forte, but I'm willing.' Blues commented. The other two chorused their agreement.

"Great!" Shinigami cheered. "But, um, would you mind if we checked to see if we can merge first? I mean, I can take you out of here anyway, I'd just like to know."

'Sure thing. We can try merging first.' Rock agreed.

Shin set the other two down and picked up Megaman again— and suddenly found himself human.

"Huh? Forte?"

'I'm not staying merged with you while he is. I'm fine if you take them, but that's going too far.'

"Fine." Shin sighed. "Rock On, Megaman!" Forte yelled, raising his hard clutching the Biometal in the air.

Nothing happened.

'Well, he's useless, let's leave him here.' Forte suggested.

"Forte! Wait, remember what that girl called us? Biomatches, or something?"

'Yeah, so what?'

"What if we're only able to merge with each other?"

'But she had all those different transformations.' the Biometal pointed out.

"What if she merged with them through her Biomatch? That means I can transform with Rock and the rest, but only if I'm merged with you as well."

'…you're joking.'

"Please, Forte. Can't we at least try?"

There was long pause.

'…fine. But I'm not happy with this at all.'

Rock sighed. 'Why can't we all get along with each other?'

'Quiet, you.'

"Forte, we're going to we working together for a while. Could you try not to stir up trouble?"

'Fine.' Forte grumbled.

Shin sighed in releif. He just hoped Forte would stick to it…

"All right. Forte, Megaman, double Rock On!" He yelled. A bright light flashed momentarily, and Shin was left standing in armor of light blue on his legs, chest and arms and a lighter blue bodysuit. His braid fell out of his round helmet in a thick rope.

'Yay! I can move again!' Rock cheered inside Shin's head.

"So… how did you used to fight?"

'Well, I usually just used my Rock Buster… but I can also copy the powers of enemies I have defeated.'

"Cool," Shin stated as he fired at an empty box in the corner. "Hey, this is slower than normal."

'Forte had a rapid fire system, but I'm able to charge up. Well, Forte is able to as well, but my buster charges quicker and it's more powerful.'

"Great!" Shin grinned. This looked like it'd be fun.

'Look, I suppose you want to see what all of us do, so why don't you hurry up a little?' Blues queried stiffly.

'Er, never mind Blues. He's just grumpy 'cause he doesn't like people,' Rock apologized.

'I don't "not like people", I just prefer to _work_ alone. Although that seems it will be impossible now.'

"To tell the truth, I don't like working with people either… actually, I try to avoid it as much as I can," Shin admitted. "But I'm okay with you guys since you aren't, well… alive."

'Shinigami?' Roll queried, concerned.

"It's nothing. Forget it. Let's go Blues." Shin hastily un-merged with Rock and snatched up the red Biometal.

A second later, Shin was wearing red gauntlets and feet armor with a gray bodysuit, along with a visored helmet and his hair in a long gold-tinted ponytail. In a sheath at his side was a metal sword.

Shin pulled it out and examined it in wonder. Real swords were so rare only a few people have seen them, much less owned one!

'Hey, I never had a sword…' Blues frowned.

"It's awesome," Shin stared mesmerized at the slightly glowing blade.

'So, I guess that's my main weapon now. I used to have a buster like Rock and Forte.'

"I bet all three of you have more powers now that you used to. We'll have to experiment a little, but first I'd like to see what things are like with Roll."

'Very well, but I was never a fighting robot, unlike the other two.' Roll cautioned.

"Double Rock On, ForteRoll!" Shin yelled, raising the pink Biometal above his head. There was a flash of pink light, then…

"Um… forgive me if I don't use you often, Roll." Shinigami commented, sweatdropping.

It was pink. A pink _dress_… No thank you.

"Hey, you think that's bad? I have to look like a boy eighty percent of the time."

The boy's head shot up at the oddly familiar voice.

"Who's there?" He demanded, turning towards the voice and whipping out his weapon.

"You really think that's going to hurt me?" the voice laughed. Shin glanced down at his new weapon and sweatdropped.

"It's a _broom_? That's your weapon?!"

'I-I'm not a fighting robot!' Roll protested, flustered.

"Relax. I'm not here to hurt you." A girl with dark hair slowly walked out of the shadows she was hiding in. Shinigami's brow furrowed in concentration.

"Weren't you… at the town that one time?"

"We've met each other more than just then, Death God. Although, I must say… you looked different." Her eyes swept over his outfit and giggled. Shin blushed furiously and un-merged with the female Biometal, leaving his usual black armor on.

"So, who are you and how do you know me?" the boy demanded gruffly, regaining his dignity.

"You don't remember, Shinigami? It's me, Aile." When he continued to look confused, she sighed softly. "I'm the girl who helped you against the W-roid."

"Oh, her. What are you doing here?"

Aile sighed, looking slightly miffed. "I… wanted to apologize."

Shin blinked. "Apologize for what?"

The girl shifted uneasily. "For thinking the worst of you… for misjudging you. I realize now that I was in error. So I came to ask your forgiveness, and…" here she brightened up slightly and look Shin straight in the eyes. "To make you a proposition."

"Proposition." Shinigami mimicked, keeping his tone and face from betraying any emotion.

"Yes. You are one of the few… surviving… Mega Men I know of, and we share a common goal; the destruction of the Mavericks."

"What's your point?" Shin asked impatiently.

"I… want to ask if you would like to join the Guardians." Taking his widened eyes as a positive sign, Aile continued. "You're one of the most powerful people on the planet, and if you could help us you would be able to accomplish your goal quicker and more efficiently, as our radars can locate Maverick activity easily, and there's safety in numbers, so we can watch each others back and—"

"No thanks."

"…Huh?" Shinigami was glaring at her coldly; Aile couldn't believe a human being could communicate that much rancor with simply his eyes, but he did so. Aile didn't move, unable to tear her gaze from his burning red eyes…

"I don't want to join with your Guardians, or anyone else. I only work by myself."

Aile mentally shook herself. "But, Shinigami, why— hey, wait!" She cried out as the boy swiftly turned and leapt off, leaving Aile staring in bewilderment at an empty room.

_Why on earth did he react like that?_

* * *

Author's notes: So, I will try to update once a month, and I WILL stick to it! …yeah, we'll see how long that lasts. Anyway, while I will hopefully write more than one chapter a month, I won't post a second one in one month unless I'm sure I'll have one for the next month, to allow for inspiration slumps. (IE, let's say I write another one this month. I won't post it until I write a third chapter.) Oh, in case anyone's wondering, that mysterious attack in 20XX was not Zero. I know the cataclysm theory is incorrect. However… hmm, actually, I just got an idea for something later in the story, so we'll leave it at that for now. If I choose to go with my idea, then there might be a few hints at what the attack was. Otherwise, it'll be a mystery, as it really isn't important to the story.

And, to tell the truth, the discovery of the Biometal is different from how I had originally planned, but I realized that wouldn't really have made much sense, so I wrote this. Hope it's okay. ^^" (It's mostly the same, but Blues had woken up earlier and… yeah. It wouldn't really work. ^^")

Oh yes, for the armor, I tried to describe it best I could without making outside references. With Rock it's mostly his original outfit, except with a bit more armor. Blues looks a lot like his navi form, except no helmet spike, his hair is golden-brown, and his bodysuit is gray. Roll's is in her dress, only it's pink and her hair is styled like it is in Battle Network (only more natural and brown).

Comment responses!

**Kestre Wynde:** Glad you like it! Oooh, that would have been interesting. ^^ Yeah, Vent's pretty cool, I just like Aile better. ^^ Okay, thank you very much. I tried to do a better job of that this chapter… probably missed a few times though. ^^"

**Niilan:** Yay! Glad you do! ^^ Thank you~

**Forcemaster24:** …this is the problem with talking to you already… Although, I guess this makes it my— I mean, Prometheus'— fault you haven't updated yet… I'm— he's— so sorry! (I hope you do update soon, I really really really want to read more. ^^")

**ZX-Kid:** S'okay, I understand. Thanks for reviewing at all! Glad you did, and I hope you enjoyed this one as well~ (And yes, I did. ^^)


	12. Chapter Eleven

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Eleven

Shinigami dashed through the sparsely wooded forest, breath beginning to get heavy. He didn't care that he was pushing himself too hard, or that it was pretty much for no purpose— his life wasn't even slightly threatened at the moment. But he still felt panicked, he had to get away from that gi— from Aile. She almost certainly wasn't chasing after him, but he didn't want to take the chance that she was.

A few minutes later, Shinigami collapsed to the forest floor on his face, completely burnt out. He groaned slightly, then managed to shift himself onto his back, sucking in shallow breaths as he squinted his eyes against the harsh sunlight.

'Shinigami-kun, are you all right? Why were you running like that?' Roll asked anxiously.

"Quiet… please… for a little." the boy gasped out, forcing his heartbeat back to a more temperate pace. Once he felt slightly better, he pulled himself into a sitting position and addressed the female Biometal.

"What were you asking… Roll, right?"

'Yes. I was wondering if you were all right. And why were you running so fast? Was there some danger we didn't know about?'

"No, nothing like that. It doesn't matter."

'Are you sure?'

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't pester me."

'I was just trying to help…'

'So, Shinigami,' Rock spoke up, hoping to divert from the situation upsetting his sister, 'who was that girl you were talking with? And why did you get so upset at her question.'

Shinigami was silent, and Rock was somewhat concerned he had made things worse. Then the boy started to speak.

"Well, her name's Aile, as I just found out. As far as I know, she is the only other person who has Biometal… besides these monsters, but that's a different story. She was the first person to come across me after I found Forte, and… well, really the only human I've talked to in a long time. We've ran into each other a few times in the past couple of weeks, and we defeated an enemy together. Besides that… I really don't know that much about her."

'And… why did you get angry when she asked if you'd join the "guardians"?' Roll asked diffidently.

Shinigami scowled lightly. "I'd prefer to keep my past to myself."

'That really isn't wise.' Shinigami blinked in surprised and turned to the red Biometal, who until now had kept silent. 'It looks like we'll be working together for a while. If we know next to nothing about each other, be won't be able to survive very long. We have to be able to trust each other… and that's impossible if you don't even know who the person is. So… it would be good for you to let us know about you. And of course, we will tell you our story as well.'

'Shinigami… could you please tell us?' Rock asked imploringly. The human sighed.

"Very well. I'll explain everything… once I get home."

With that, the Death God trudged wearily towards his makeshift home.

* * *

Aile's brow was furrowed in thought as she somberly transported back to the Guardian Headquarters. She shouldn't have approached him so earnestly… it probably just drove him away from her more. She wasn't even sure _why_ she wanted him to join the Guardians so much. Of course, it would serve as a good excuse to know him better, but she had to admit she was concerned about him. He was certainly very powerful, but it's very easy for an amateur to get in over their head— she knew from experience.

Shinigami had only been fighting for, as far as she could tell, less than a month. Of course, in half that amount of time, she had taken out several strong enemies and saved the world from certain destruction, but then she at least had Guardian back up for the most part, and they'd be able to try and help save her if things got too bad. But Shinigami was doing this with no support whatsoever! Aile wasn't sure if she could work like that… not so much she liked the security of their backup, but she liked the fact she knew there were people waiting for her… people who cared about whether she lived to see the next sunrise.

Of course, Shinigami seemed abrasive, and… well, the sort of person who preferred to work alone, without anyone to "get in his way". He probably just didn't want anyone holding him down. But…

But that look he gave her. It didn't seem to be one of simple refusal. He looks angry at her suggestion, and… afraid. And hurt. Like the simple prospect of being around another soul for any length of time was completely horrible. Not just preposterous, but… disastrous.

The funny thing was… if Aile read him right… it wasn't his own safety he was so terrified about.

"Welcome back, Aile. How are you feeling?"

The girl's head snapped up, and she found herself in the command center standing before Prairie.

_Oh… I guess I walked in here without paying attention…_

"I'm… perfectly fine, Prairie." Aile grinned weakly to her superior.

"Are you sure? You seem pretty tired."

Aile shut her eyes for a second. It was true she felt weary, although travel-weary, not battle-weary. She had been on the move so much she had barely gotten a chance to sit down in the past five hours.

"Yes, Prairie, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"It's just…" Prairie looked to the side hesitantly. What she had to ask was important, but she didn't want to push Aile too far. That hadn't turned out well in the past… but she truly needed her help.

"Well… there's a Maverick attack going on. Pretty big one, and we think there might be a W-roid in their ranks as well. We've sent some forces out to confront it, but…"

"Got it." Aile grinned, flashing a thumbs-up towards her good friend. "I'll clean things up and be back here in a jiffy."

'Do people still say jiffy…?' Model H asked musingly.

"Oh, quiet, you." Aile stuck her tongue out at nothing as a replacement for the Biometal before she hopped on the TransServer and selected the preprogrammed coordinates, transporting to the place of the incident.

* * *

"…So, that's why."

'Oh… Shinigami-kun…' Roll murmured sympathetically.

'…I understand your fears, Shinigami, but… well, you have us now! You'll be able to protect everyone now!'

Shinigami gave Rock an even stare. "You weren't listening. I don't _want_ to get close to people; I don't want to protect them. I don't want to have any bonds. I want to live only for myself and revenge. Caring about others would only get in the way."

Shinigami smirked inwardly. Funny how convictions seem so much stronger when voiced, instead of contemplating them yourself, isn't it?

'But that's… such a lonely way to live.' Rock finished sadly.

Shinigami let out a sad, quiet sigh, then fixed Rock with a smirk. "Like you said, I have you guys now. How can I be lonely with four voices in my head?"

Roll giggled. 'That sounded funny, Shinigami-kun.'

Shinigami rolled his eyes and was about to respond, when a noise in the distance caught his ears.

"What's that?"

'It sounded like an explosion…' Blues mentioned.

'Ah! Shinigami-kun, there's smoke coming from over there!' Roll cried. Shinigami shot up and glanced around, wishing the girl was able to specify where "there" was. Suddenly he saw a cloud of smoke billowing up from an area far away.

'What are you waiting for, Shinigami? Let's go. There's bound to be some action over there.' Forte spoke suddenly.

Shinigami wanted to protest how by the time they got there things would probably be finished, but he knew it would be good to let Forte do some fighting soon; it was pretty obvious the longer he was forced to be around the other Biometal the worse his mood got. In fact, Forte had been sullenly mute for most of the time since they left with the three…

"Fine, let's go. Forte, Rock On!"

* * *

"Our three new Biometal have been found." a calm voice observed.

"Heh. Good. By the same person who found the first one, I hope?" the response came from a voice quite the opposite of the first speaker's, being emotional and male.

A slight smile formed on the woman's face. "Yes."

A dark chuckle ripped from the man's lips as he leaned forwards, watching the machinery's quick, jerky movements.

"It was quite fortuitous, finding the secrets of Biometal…"

The female glanced hesitantly at the prone male body lying in a heap off to the side, never to wake again. Of course, he was not operative when they found him… just like the others…

"But, he seems to be handling them well… unlike we had anticipated…"

"Oh, don't worry. He's strained as it is… and once he faces this one as well, it will be enough. He will bend to our will… and our plan will be set in motion."

* * *

Author's notes: Fifty reveiws and 3600 hits, yay! -grins happily- Sank yuu~

Sorry if this chapter was bit shorter than normal. Now that I've done planning, it looks like there will be a greater difference in chapter length, some of them will be shorter and some will be longer. (Gee, aren't I great at stating the obvious?) Oh yes, sorry about Roll calling Shinigami "Shinigami-kun", but I pictured her doing that, it just seemed natural to me. -sweatdrop-

Anyway, I'm updating today in particular because this is my one-year anniversary on FanFiction! Yay!

So, guess it's time for review responses~ (For some reason, I don't ramble much any more… weird. Guess I'm growing up or something… I dunno. Or I figure I should do that or respond to people's reviews, and that's probably better. Onward!)

**Frankcarlo mills:** Yup, by Forte I mean Bass. I use mostly the Japanese names (Forte, Rock On, etc) but a few English ones as well.

Sorry, but I'm using the Japanese names, because those are the ones I think of them as. If you don't like it, then sorry. ^^" (I used to have Megaman as "Rockman", but then I changed it… I still refer to him as "Rock" though, since he still is.)

Um, thanks? ^^"

Thanks for the suggestions. ^^ Although, I think the Japanese names are pretty well-known if less-used (am I correct? Or do most of you only know the English names? If so, I could change it, or… something. ^^") I will take your second suggestion though, and thank you very much. I didn't want to have to call them by their full names all the time (especially when they're merged) but I wasn't sure if I should since there's already a Model F. When they're merged they'll be with the titles. ^^

**AccessBlade: **Glad you liked it! ^^ And I hope this chapter answered your question. ^^ Heehee, perfectly alright~ Thank you very much for reviewing!

**ZX-Kid:** Thanks, glad it was~ It was the type of thing where I wasn't sure if people would find it humorous or just weird. I'm happy it was the former. ^^" And yup, it was. ^^" Aile doesn't know him that well yet…

**MrChoco:** Glad you like it! Hope this was fast enough for you~ Oooh, awesome idea! I swear, you guys have better ideas than I do… hope I can incorporate that into the story. ^^

**SubZeroChimera:** Glad you liked it! ^^ Am looking forwards to more Happy Anniversary~ (Not to mention that Happy Birthday update… XD)

**Cyphrus Cross:** It's perfectly fine. Thank you for reviewing! ^^ And yeah, well, he hasn't exactly had a good history with them, has he? ^^" They'll get along better as time goes on, though. Yeah, I know… poor them. ^^"

**Niilan:** Glad you did! ^^

**Shaded Twilight:** …You write the best reviews ever. Really. Whenever I read then it really lifts my spirits and encourages me~ ^^ Anyway, thank you so, so very much for the encouragement and the advice! I'll try my best to follow it~ (Although, the reading a book thing made me realize my favorite book is missing…)


	13. Chapter Twelve

**The Shinigami's Angel**

Chapter Twelve

Aile drew out the Z-saber and pointed it at her enemy, pushing away her desire to rest to the back of her mind. Once this W-roid was taken care of, then she could rest. She supposed she really _did_ need to stop pushing herself so hard, but, well, the world wasn't going to save itself.

The grunt Mavericks were easy pickings, as usual, and fortunately the few Humanoids in the area had fled shortly after she arrived, bearing only a few minor injuries. The W-roid leader was an unusual one. Instead of having a shape, it was little more than a blob of blue slime, only about five feet in diameter, covering a small Model W fragment. Aile assumed it could extend its body for attack, but it didn't seem too intimidating. She did wonder why they would choose to attack an old storage facility, which was only used by a few people if any, but then again, normal Mavericks didn't really seem to care what they attacked as long as they did damage.

The girl dashed forwards, saber held high for a downward slash. But when she was in mid-swipe the W-roid tugged itself forwards quickly, letting a small bit of the gel attach itself to Aile's arm. The girl quickly shook it off, but a jolt of pain ran through her as she did so. Aile glanced down at her energy gage and groaned slightly.

_Okay, so it absorbed some of my energy… and will probably recharge itself with that once it gets damaged._

Aile deduced as the small blob oozed across the ground and reformed with the larger globule.

_And it's also faster than it would seem… So close range combat isn't an option… Looks like it's time to take to the skies._

Aile grinned as she transformed with Model HX, hovering over the crumbling concrete ground. She yanked the two beam knifes out and dove downwards, deftly slicing the gel in two and striking the W fragment before landing on the concrete once more. The slime pulsed red for a second.

_Could it be vulnerable to electricity? _The girl mused. Well, it did seem to work, so might as well stick with it.

Aile charged up and let fly a ball of electricity. However, at the same moment it latched onto her, managing to steal away a bit more of her energy before getting hit.

Aile hissed at the sharp pain before leaping back once more. She took a moment to scan the enemy. The weak point was the Model W fragment, obviously, and it was already down to five-sixths it's full health.

_If I don't let it hit me, this shouldn't take very long…_

Aile drew her knives once more and attacked. She danced back and forth, trying to avoid the gel and damage it at the same time. She didn't always succeed, but she ignored the slight pain and pushed forwards, knowing she could focus on the lost energy once she was done. Eventually, the slime started to slow down, and it pulsed red steadily.

_Now!_

Aile stabbed upwards, impaling the W-roid's Model W fragment on her knife. She pulled away and stepped back, watching as it exploded, leaving nothing but a few scraps from the Biometal.

The girl smiled, about to contact Prairie about the mission's success, when a wave of dizziness swept over her. Aile felt her legs give out and she collapsed, hitting her chin against the hard ground. She glanced blearily at her energy meter, wincing at what she saw.

_It… it took more than I thought…_

'Aile!' Model Z's voice called out sharply. 'Stay awake, Aile!'

Aile tried to focus on the familiar voice echoing through her head, but it was soon proven useless, and consciousness fell from her grasp.

'Aile. Aile!'

* * *

"Aile… Aile, are you okay?"

"Ungh…" The brunette stirred slightly. After a few seconds she managed to force her eyes open, seeing the worried form of Prairie in front of her.

The Guardian commander smiled in relief. "You seem to be okay, that's a relief."

"P-Prairie…?" Aile frowned, glancing around her. She was in her bed. "How did I get here? Last I knew I was… at that storage facility…"

Prairie frowned slightly. "I'm afraid we don't know either. We had tried to contact you, but you weren't responding to your radio. Then, three hours ago… we found you lying on the top deck of the airship. We were wondering if there was a TransServer malfunction which had knocked you unconscious."

"N-no, I never… got to a TransServer…"

Prairie frowned in concern. "You mean… it happened again?"

"Yes…" Aile looked down and fingered the white sheets to hide her sheepishness. "But it really wasn't my fault this time! The enemy directly stole my energy." Aile knew both of them knew she was really just pleading for Prairie not to prohibit her from fighting.

The blond girl's eyes sparkled with mischief. "You know, we really should have a talk about you not pushing yourself too hard."

Aile groaned. "Prairie…"

The commander chuckled slightly. "Don't worry, Aile, I won't keep you from continuing to fight. I'll let Muguet know there wasn't a malfunction and it's nothing serious. But please, you will rest for today, won't you?"

Aile smiled. "Thanks, Prairie."

Prairie smiled back brightly. "You're welcome. Well, I'll leave you to get some more sleep."

Aile nodded back in farewell as Prairie left the room, the door sliding shut silently behind her. However, instead of sleep, Aile's thoughts turned to how the had been returned to the Guardians.

_Who could have done that?_ Aile thought as the leaned back against the pillows. There was only one person she could think of with the abilities who might attempt such a feat, but… he wouldn't do that for her…

Would he?

* * *

Shinigami sat back against the tree he denoted as "home", the familiar rough bark scratching at the soft fabric of his shirt. He closed his eyes, relishing the temporary silence, and taking a deep breath as the wind brushed by him. If the girl's— Aile's, her knew her name now, she was Aile, not girl, why was that so hard for him to accept?— biometals were as prone to inane chatter as Rock and Roll were, he pitied her.

Not that the two particularly annoyed him, it was nice to be around beings so… cheerful and child-like as those two. But sometimes they just didn't get it when he wanted to be left alone. It took him yelling at them and Blues telling them he might like less noise for them to shut up. Honestly, he thought they would have burned themselves out, the way they were chattering all the way back from the… disturbance.

Shinigami winced slightly. He had already had to make a big detour, but due to Forte being unable to fight anyone he thought it best to scout out some more Mavericks before heading home.

He ran a hand through his dark brown bangs and let out a sigh. He didn't want to think about his first… detour. He didn't know why he did it… didn't know why he had felt like he should…

"Let's see, I'm running low on food, so I should get some more soon, maybe tomorrow…" the boy muttered quietly to himself in an attempt of distraction.

'…Shinigami-kun.' A timid female voice resounded through Shin's brain.

"Hmm? What is it, Roll?" Shinigami asked, leaning forwards a bit.

'I-I was wondering… you never really answered, and… why _did_ you do that, earlier?'

Shinigami let out a heavy sigh and rested back against the tree. It was a very good question. Why _had_ he done it?

* * *

_Shinigami hurried in the direction of the smoke, a smile slowly easing onto his face in anticipation of trashing some Mavericks._

_The fledgling smile turned to a frown as he entered the clearing. There was nothing there… nothing but a few building with some small fires that were burning themselves out. His eyes scanned the area in bewilderment. Were they mistaken, and it wasn't Mavericks? But even if it wasn't, there should at least be_ someone _around here…_

_His gaze caught a small blue figure lying in the pavement a short distance away._ Good, _Shinigami thought as he ran towards the limp person,_ now maybe I can find out what's…

_The boy's thought drifted away as he came close enough to the figure to make out what it was. A girl with long brown hair was lying unconscious on the concrete._

_Shinigami had a sneaking suspicion on who it might be._

_The young man reached down hesitantly before gently slipping an arm around her stomach, handling her like he was afraid she would shatter any moment. He slowly turned her over so she was lying on her back instead of her stomach, and looked at her face._

_It was Aile, just like he had expected._

_Shinigami knew he should try to think up something he should do, but he found himself slightly intrigued. Why was she unconscious like this? Also, it was the first time he had really gotten a chance to look at her as a human like this. When she was peaceful like this, unlike how he normally saw her attacking Mavericks (or him), she wasn't really unattractive. She was actually almost pret—_

_Shinigami's nose crinkled in confusion and he turned his gaze away from the prostrate girl. What was doing, thinking about her like this? It was so… _stupid _he couldn't even get his mind around it, around how much he had no romantic feelings for her. Nope, not at all, not ever. It would just get in the way, not to mention he's only met her less than half a dozen times!_

'_Shinigami, why are you just sitting there in a daze? Isn't that the girl from earlier?' Rock queried._

'_Oh, do you like her, Shinigami-kun?' Roll asked eagerly._

"_N-no I don't!" Shinigami yelled. "She doesn't mean anything to me. But…"_

_Shinigami frowned. Part of him wanted to just get up and run away, but the rest of him knew it wouldn't feel right to just leave her like that. What if she was in trouble? While he didn't particularly care about her, he knew she was the Maverick's most dangerous enemy (besides himself) and anyone who would kill Mavericks was a friend in his book. But… what could he do? He didn't have any idea of what might be wrong with her, not to mention he had zero medical supplies (or medical skills, for that matter). The only thing he could do is take her to his home, but the only difference from here is that she'd get to lie on grass instead of concrete, which wasn't_ that_ much of an improvement._

"_I wouldn't feel right about just leaving her like this… but I'm not sure about what I'd be able to do."_

'_We… might be able to help with that.'_

_Shinigami's head shot up to see six differently colored Biometal appear._

"_You guys… are Aile's Biometal."_

'_X, what are you doing? How do you know we can trust him?' The orange one demanded._

'_Not that I doubt you, X-sama, but… F is right. With Aile unconscious we would be unable to protect her if he turns out to be an enemy.' The purple one added._

_Shinigami frowned. "Hey, I resent that. And you six know I haven't attacked Aile since the first time we met."_

'_F, P, I believe we can put our trust in Shinigami. As he said, if he wanted to harm her, he would have done so before. And if he was waiting for her to be vulnerable he would have attacked already. Besides, do we really have a choice? We can't use the communicator and I doubt someone else we know would show up for a while.'_

"_Thank you." Shinigami grumbled. "So how do you propose I help her?"_

_The red Biometal turned to regard the humanoid. 'Aile has a tracker in her left gauntlet, to let the Guardians know where she is and she where they are. Just get her to the base and things should be fine.'_

'_What are you talking about, Z? Wouldn't it be much simpler if he just got to a TransServer, transported her to the base, and then left?' The blue female asked._

"_Why would she need a tracker to know where the base is?" Shinigami wondered, frowning in confusion._

_The red Biometal chuckled before speaking again. 'Because the base… is an airship.' Z explained, pausing for dramatic effect._

"_An… airship?" Shinigami repeated, blinking once. It did make sense to have a mobile base, but…_

'_Yes. Which is why L thinks it would be simpler to transport there.' _

_Shinigami frowned once more. "I wouldn't want that. If it's an airship, then the TransServer would be the primary way on and off the ship, and people might be nearby. If I transport on while carrying an unconscious Mega Man, I'm sure to get held up and questioned, which is exactly what I don't want to have happened. I'll need a less conspicuous way onto the base."_

_Shinigami's hand slipped around the metal bracelet on the sleeping girl's left wrist, before finding and pressing the release button. A holographic screen opened up in the air, and Shinigami scanned through the sections until he found what he was looking for. The base was actually not too far away, only about ten minutes of running while Megamerged. And, if he remembered the area they were flying by correctly…_

_Shinigami smirked slightly as he closed the screen back up and gingerly scooped Aile into his arms._

"_I have an idea."_

* * *

_Shinigami stood on the edge of a wide cliff, watching as the airbase meandered nearer. It had taken him a bit longer than he had estimated due to Aile's added weight, but the timing still worked out almost perfectly._

_The boy shifted the girl so she was hanging over his shoulder. He had to carry the girl bridal-style all the way here, but he needed at least one of his hands free for this next part._

"…_Hey, you six." Shinigami asked quietly._

'_What is it?'_

"_Do you think you could… not tell Aile about this? I just…" Shinigami bit his lip. He didn't know why, but he was hesitant to let Aile know he had done anything nice for her. "I don't think she needs to know about this."_

_The Biometals were obviously suspicious about this, but reluctantly agreed to not tell Aile who it was who returned her to the Guardian base._

_Shinigami smiled in relief. As the tip of the base finally passed by the cliff, Shinigami made his move._

_With a mighty jump, the rouge Mega Man leapt onto the ship, just barely making it. After taking a second to regain his bearings, he started wall jumping up the side, soon reaching the top deck. He gently lowered Aile to the metal floor, the next second leaping over the side again, clinging to the side again until he was close enough to jump back to the cliff. _

_As soon as his feet touched the dirt again, Shinigami dashed away._

* * *

"…I don't know why I did it." Shinigami murmured quietly. "I just… don't know."

'Shinigami, you're so mysterious.' Rock piped up. 'I mean, now we know about your past, sure, but… we still don't know much about you, or how you think. You're almost as mysterious as Blues.'

'No, I think he's even more mysterious then me.'

'You're just saying that since you know more about yourself then you do about him, Blues-kun.'

'That would be the normal way of perceiving things, Roll.'

Shinigami frowned. "You guys say I'm mysterious, but that really isn't fair."

The three siblings shifted their focus to the human.

"You guys all know about me, but I don't know anything about you guys. Well, besides what Forte's told me, but I'm guessing you guys have a… slightly different view of things."

The black Biometal, hovering far away from the rest of the group, let out a snort.

"Come on, Forte, I let you fight. I thought that'd cheer you up."

'I'm not going near them unless I have to. It's bad enough that I have to fuse with them in battle.'

Roll sighed. 'Don't worry, Shinigami-kun. I'm sure Forte can't stay mad forever.'

'Yeah, he's actually not such a bad guy when you come down to it, he's just… overly-competitive.'

'Ah, always one for understatements, aren't you, Rock.'

"So, are you three going to tell me what happened with you guys, or will I have to rely solely on Forte's over-opinionated view of events?"

Rock and Blues exchanged glances, then turned back to Shinigami. Rock let out a sigh.

'Very well. We'll tell you about our lives. How they started, and…' here Rock gulped, and his somber voice took on a quieter, sadder tone.

'How they ended.'

* * *

In a dark cellar, bare of the even the faintest hints of light or life, a figure rested, only a shred of who he once was. But he was not dead. He could never die.

A faint snap was heard as the final loose, abandoned cord lashed away from him, and a pair of deep crimson eyes flashed open.

The true God of Death had reawakened.

* * *

Author's Notes: Ugh, I'm so, so SO sorry for the long update wait. Fortunately, I'm; 1. Very inspired for this story and 2. Hope to update this fic at least three more times during the summer.

In other news, I am now 17 years old. How cool is that? However, it also shows me how slow I am at writing this, since I started when I was 15...

Yes, the gauntlet thing was for the game's menu. I think it'll work. And yes, I know in the game there isn't a tracker… just humor me, please, okay? Actually, she probably got it and other things installed after the end of the game. Yeah, let's stick with that.

Oh, and sorry the fight was so short. It was a pretty minor part in the story, so… ^^"

It's fun, because even though the romance won't really start a few more chapters (and even then it isn't much), there's some buildup now and it's pretty fun. I mean, there was -some- buildup starting from chapter 4, now Aile's starting to become deeply curious about Shinigami as a person, not just general curiosity. While Shinigami doesn't want to think of anything but revenge, so he tries to push any thoughts about Aile out of his mind, but that gets hard since they keep running into each other, and eventually he'll have to work out what exactly he thinks about her. ^^

You all know what comes now… review responses!

**SubZeroChimera:** …So, so, so sorry this took so long to write and post! T.T I'm horrible… (Oh yeah, guess who the newly-awakened character is~ I just hope I do justice to his character…)

**C****yphrus Cross:** She sure does. Thanks! ^^ I'm sorry you had to wait so long, and hope it didn't disappoint too much!

**Kestre ****Wynde:** Glad you think so highly of my fic~ ^^

Thanks! (To tell the truth, I've only played the side games personally, I just watched my brothers for the other Classic games. ^^") Well, they have pretty similar personalities. Although, Blues generally acts more like Chaud, and Forte is louder and hates Megaman particularly, but other than that they're a whole lot alike.

Heehee, thanks~ Well, I definitely have some plans concerning Roll, and while I really like that idea for Roll, well… um, I'd like to explain further, but it'd kinda be a spoiler for the sequel. Sorry. ^^"

…Yes, it is. There are definitely some differences, but still… I really didn't even think of that… ^^"

Okay, thanks! Glad you like it~ The only real reason I named him Megaman instead of Rockman is so, for abbreviations of Shin's transformation, there won't be two RFs. So, I would change it, but I just… yeah. ^^"

So, thanks so much. Sorry the wait was so long, but I hope to update this at least four more times during the summer, so I hope that'll work out.

**ZX-Kid:** Thanks! (I really wish my inspiration hadn't decided to take a four-month vacation after I wrote such a cliffhanger…) Well, feel free to speculate as much as you like, it won't be revealed who they are until near the end of the fic~

Really? That's great! I hope this one wasn't too disappointing… it's hard to come up with W-roid and not feel like you're just copying the bosses from the actual games. ^^"

**Ai****nryhr: **Thank you very much!

I know, he's my favorite too… while I like Forte a lot, nobody can be better than Blues. ^^

Thanks once again, and I'm very sorry for the wait!


End file.
